Insight Magazine July/August 2013 Issue

INSIGHT JULY/AUGUST 2013

The Journal of the American Chamber of Commerce in Shanghai

amcham shanghai VP OF PROGRAMS & Services

Scott Williams VP of Administration & Finance

Helen Ren

F e at u r e s

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12 Shanghai Workers SPECIAL SERIES

Our occasional series is back with profiles of three Shanghai residents: Shirley Zhu of Sesame Street, psychiatrist Peter Calafiura and Jonathan Zheng, formerly of the Shanghai Sharks.

Directors Business development & Marketing

Patsy Li Committees

Stefanie Myers Events

Jessica Wu Government Relations & CSR

Steven Chan

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23 Got Passport, Will Travel INTERVIEW

By Bryan Virasami Charles Bennett, the Minister Counselor for Consular Affairs at the U.S. Embassy in Beijing, talks about the growing number of Chinese traveling to America.

Membership & CVP

Linda X. Wang

INSIGHT Bryan Virasami Senior Associate Editor

Erika Wang senior communications associate

26 Trouble in the Air COVER STORY

By Linda Yu The severe air pollution in Beijing may discourage some overseas firms form setting up shop in the capital, observers say.

Ryan Balis INTERNS

Mark Choi Jenny Xu Design

Alicia Beebe Printing

Mickey Zhou Snap Printing, Inc.

34 CSR – Reality on the Ground

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CSR IN CHINA

By Erika Wang

What is China doing right, what needs to be improved and what does it all mean?

INSIGHT Sponsorship (86-21) 6279-7119 ext. 5667 Story ideas, questions or comments on Insight: Please contact Bryan Virasami (86-21) 6279-7119 ext. 5668 bryan.virasami@amcham-shanghai.org Insight is a free monthly publication for the members of The American Chamber of Commerce in Shanghai. Editorial content and sponsors' announcements are independent and do not necessarily reflect the views of the governors, officers, members or staff of the Chamber. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent of the copyright holder.

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I n s ig h t s ta nd a r d s

5 News Briefs

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11 Movers and Shakers

MONTH IN PICTURES

Highlights from Our Events

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EXECUTIVE GETAWAY

What’s Your Favorite Weekend Getaway?

INSIDE AmCham Shanghai Centre, Suite 568 1376 Nanjing West Road Shanghai, 200040 China tel: (86-21) 6279-7119 fax: (86-21) 6279-7643 www.amcham-shanghai.org

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EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

40 From the Chair 41 Board of Governors Meeting 46 Government Relations 48 Committee Highlights cover ILLUSTRATION by Tian Chi

Editor's note

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ir pollution isn’t usually one of the first issues that comes to mind when executives get together to discuss the hottest business topics of the day in China.

In our cover story, however, American and European business leaders say that the severe air pollution may help push some people out of Beijing while many who were thinking of opening an office in the city may no longer put the capital at the top of the list. The Chinese government has announced new steps to fight pollution and we hope it makes a difference.

On a lighter note, our Shanghai Workers series is back with three profiles of people with interesting jobs. The first is an interview with the top person at Sesame Street who talks about Big Bird’s foray into China as well as Lily, a new character developed for the China market. Plus, we have a feature on an American psychiatrist who has some advice for expats in the city and a profile of a former marketing man at the Shanghai Sharks.

Bryan Virasami editor-in-chief

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In addition, we examine how China is doing when it comes to corporate social responsibility and we ask what’s being done right and what needs to be improved.

Finally, it’s a time of changes here at AmCham Shanghai. We just said good-bye to Brenda Foster, who served as president for eight years, and we also recently said farewell to David Basmajian who used to occupy this space as Editor-in-Chief. Looking ahead, AmCham Shanghai will soon welcome incoming President Kenneth Jarrett in September. Look for an interview with Ken in the next issue to hear his thoughts on his priorities and plans for the organization.

We strive to fill Insight with thoughtful and insightful content, and we hope it remains a publication of value to all our members and readers. As always, we welcome your comments and feedback, so please feel free to drop me an email at Bryan.Virasami@AmCham-Shanghai. org. Thanks for reading.

imaginechina

News

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CHINA BUSINESS

China’s first online fund hits a million investors China’s first online investment fund, Yu E Bao, gained one million investors within the week of being launched on June 13.

The new site was introduced by Alipay, China’s largest third party payment platform and subsidiary of Alibaba group.

With Yu E Bao, Alipay’s 800 million users can invest directly with a private fund with money from their Alipay accounts.

The minimum threshold for investment of funds is RMB1, while annual earnings rates are at 3% to 4%. The current interest rate for a one-year deposit is 3.25%.

Investors can then redeem funds at any time, and capital can even be used online directly for Internet payments, and can be transferred without redemption.

Beijing hikes taxi fares Taxi base fares in Beijing have been raised by 30%, from RMB10 to RMB13, for the first three kilometers, with an additional RMB1 fuel surcharge.

Instated by the Beijing Municipal Commission of Development and Reform to ease the impact of a growing population and gridlock on the wages of cabbies, customers will be charged the equivalent of two kilometers of fare for every five minutes of idling. The drivers themselves will not see individual raises until their fare meters are converted, a process that should be finished by the end of June, according to local media.

The number of taxis in Beijing has remained at 66,000, but availability remains scarce during rush hour.

Mengniu Dairy buys Yashili International China Mengniu Dairy Co., Ltd. offered

China Carbon Trading Kicks Off in Shenzhen China launched its first pilot carbon emission exchange system on June 18. As a cap-and-trade scheme, local companies must buy allowances from other companies if they want to exceed their carbon limits. The Shenzhen exchange will involve 635 local companies, accounting for more than a quarter of the local GDP with more than 30 million metric tons of CO2 emissions per year, according to analysts. Petrochina and Hanergy made the first two trades, buying CO2 permits for RMB28 (US$4.57) and RMB30 per metric ton, respectively.

Exchanges in Shanghai, where Baoshan Iron and Steel is located, and in Hubei, home of Wuhan Iron and Steel, will open later this year. Beijing, Tianjin and Chongqing will follow suit. Current exchange prices are but three fourths of the prices in the European Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS), where CO2 is at EUR4.54 (US$6.06), despite a large oversupply of carbon credits. Government officials believe that these pilot systems will be the building blocks of a nationwide emissions trading market.

a deal with Hong Kong Formula company Yashili International Holdings Ltd. worth HK$12.5 billion (US$1.6 billion). The move will greatly expand its milk powder business, which, according to a Mengniu spokesman, accounts for only 2% of total business. Mengniu is offering HK$3.50 cash

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per share to all of Yashili’s shareholders, which include the chairman of Yashili and U.S.-based private equity firm Carlyle Group. Carlyle Group has a 24.39% share in Yashili, while Chairman Zhang owns a 52.19% stake. Yashili is known for sourcing all of its product from New Zealand.

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Central Huijin Investment buys bank shares The primary holding company for China’s state-owned financial firms, Central Huijin Investment, bought RMB363 million shares in China’s four largest banks on June 13. After Huijin’s purchase, China raised stakes in the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC), Bank of China (BoC), China Construction Bank (CCB) and Agricultural Bank of China (ABC) by 0.01% each. The previous week, Huijin also invested more than RMB100 million in Everbright Bank and New China Life Insurance, who both claim separately that Huijin plans to raise its stakes in their shares further over the next six months. China now owns 35.46% of ICBC, 67.74% of BoC, 57.23% of CCB and 40.24% of ABC.

CORPORATE NEWS

Wanda to launch US$1b hotel project abroad Chinese property conglomerate Dalian Wanda Group said it plans a luxury hotel and development in London with a total investment value of about US$1 billion.

Chairman Wang Jianlin announced on June 19 that the company plans to build luxury hotels with the Wanda brand in eight to 10 major cities around the world over the next decade, adding that it will announce a luxury hotel project in New York later this year. Dalian Wanda already owns U.S. cinema chain AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc., which it bought last year for US$2.6 billion. It has also announced a bid for British yacht maker Sunseeker International Ltd.

UPS opens facility in Hangzhou UPS opened a 22,000 square meter healthcare facility on May 30 in Hangzhou, capital of Zhejiang province in eastern China. The move is designed to increase the company’s presence in China by aiding global healthcare

companies that are trying to expand into and export from China. The facility aims to meet storage and distribution needs of pharmaceutical companies. By working with the local government, UPS plans to develop information technologies that foster product integrity, safety and security, while making Hangzhou into a hub of healthcare transportation.

According to a UPS study, China was voted the market with the most expansion opportunities by healthcare industry executives.

Fosun International teams up with Alibaba Fosun is the latest to join Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.’s new RMB5 billion project, Cainiao (Rookie) network in Shenzhen.

Fosun will contribute RMB500 million over the next five to eight years for a 10% stake in the China Smart Logistics Network. According to Caixin Online, this will be a team effort including Yintai Holdings, Forchn Holdings, Fosun and five other major delivery companies. It will comprise nationwide warehouses and a data system that tracks trade and delivery. A 24-hour delivery service will be necessary to support Alibaba’s selfproclaimed goal of reaching RMB30 billion worth in daily online shopping transactions.

University of Nebraska, Chinese startup in deal The Medical Center of the University of Nebraska (UNMC), under its technology office UneMed Corp., has partnered up with Bohe Biotech, signing over the rights to commercially produce a new type of menthol. At the company’s headquarters in Chengdu, the longer lasting menthol derivative will be tested in hopes of its future salability. The product could be used in oral hygiene products, according to a UneMed press release. Before hitting Chinese shelves, it may take another four or five years of further research and gaining regulatory approval. Head of the UNMC licensing office Michael Dixon

reports that UNeMed now has 20 similar arrangements lined up this year, up from only two to five a decade back.

MACROECONOMICS

New home prices rise in June For the first time this year since the Chinese government attempted to curb growth, the National Bureau of Statistics reported that prices for new homes rose in Shanghai, Beijing and 65 other major cities in June. In Beijing, prices were at 2.2% higher from the prior year, up from 2.1% in May. Shanghai had an even greater increase, jumping from 1.4% to 2.2%.

Hangzhou leads the price gains with a 0.6% rise from last month. Average home prices in 100 cities also went up 0.05% in June, ending a nine month long decline.

These rises come in spite of government attempts to curb residential prices by limiting home purchases in big cities.

Vegetable prices fall, slow inflation From April, prices of vegetables in May fell an unprecedented 13.8%. Due to an influx of fresh vegetables at market and warmer temperatures, prices lowered, slowing down consumer inflation. The consumer price index (CPI) dropped 0.6% from April to May this year, compared to a 0.2% increase from March to April.

Reports also showed that the producer price index, the main gauge for wholesale inflation, decreased 2.9% from a year ago.

This marks the largest drop in the past seven months and the 15th consecutive month of decline. Prices for eggs and pork also had a moderate increase, according to the China Center for International Economic Exchanges.

Crude oil imports down in May China’s General Administration of Customs reported that China imported 23.95 million metric tons of crude oil this May, which is 6% less than imports a year

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ago. The sum of 271.09 million metric tons of crude oil for the first quarter up until May this year was down 2% from last year.

However, oil imports in May were still 3.8% more than the 23.08 million metric tons in April. Imports of oil products reached 4 million metric tons, while exports were at 2.75 million metric tons. China is the world’s second largest oil consumer after the U.S. Oil and natural gas account for 20% of China’s total energy consumption.

U.S.-CHINA

U.S. increases anti-dumping tariff on Chinese chemicals On June 18, officials on Capitol Hill announced their plans to maintain existing anti-dumping tariffs on imports of sodium hexametaphosphate (SHMP), used as a food additive, from China. The U.S. International Trade Commission, however, deems its anti-dumping duty as a measure necessary to prevent material injury to the domestic industry. The duty on Chinese products was first introduced in 2008 and ranges anywhere from 92.02% to 188.05% of the price at initial export.

China’s Ministry of Commerce claims U.S. anti-dumping laws are inconsistent with its calls for a free and open environment on the market for international trade.

MoneyGram signs with Shanghai Rural Global money transfer company MoneyGram announced on June 11 that it has signed an agreement with Shanghai Rural Commercial Bank (SRCB). Its money transfer services are now offered at 20 SRCB branches in the country.

Services are expected to be offered at all 340 SRCB locations enabling MoneyGram to reach over 23 million people. SRCB has operations in every district of Shanghai as well as surrounding rural areas.

MoneyGram services are planned to be extended to all 100 financial convenience stores run by SRCB in the outlying regions. China is the world’s second largest receiving country with over US$60

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billion in annual money transfer receives, according to a report by The World Bank.

GM to build new Cadillac plant in Shanghai U.S. automobile company General Motors (GM) began construction on a US$1.3 billion plant in the Jinqiao zone of Shanghai in June. It said it plans to turn out 150,000 units per year and receive regulatory approval to avoid paying China’s import tariff on automobiles. GM revealed plans to build three more Chinese plants to boost annual output to five million cars and triple exports by investing US$11 billion by 2016. Last year, GM built two plants in China, increasing production capacity by 20%. With the new plants, production will increase by another 30% to compete with German companies Audi, BMW and Mercedes Benz, which currently lead sales in China.

GOVERNMENT & POLICY

Ministry opens cyber affairs office The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has set up a new cyber affairs office to deal with issues involving cyber security, according to a ministry spokeswoman.

This announcement comes in the wake of allegations that the U.S. had been for years hacking into Chinese computer networks.

In the past few years, Beijing has been gradually working to replace foreign information technology and network security services with homegrown variants

by Huawei and ZTE. Currently, China continues to rely on security technology from abroad and places no ban on its use.

U.S. security officials have restricted the use of Chinese technology.

New measure to fight air pollution China’s State Council has drafted an ambitious plan to curb air pollution throughout the country. The plan

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details a set of 10 new rules including a requirement for heavy industries to cut back on emissions by 30% for each unit of economic output by 2017.

Additionally, heavy polluting industries including coal mines and iron and steel plants will be required to disclose environmental data to the public. With these measures, the government provides the largest emissions reduction proposal to date. However, if the Chinese economy continues to grow at a rate of nearly 10% per year, environmentalists predict these reductions may not amount to very much.

Shanghai relaxes resident permit policy On June 19, authorities of the Shanghai Municipal Government announced that they will relax qualifications for residency permits for non-locals. The new regulation marks Shanghai as the first city in the mainland to give qualified migrants nearly equal status. These reforms, which promote urbanization, come amid the government’s recognition that migrant populations provide vital services for the city.

Non-Shanghai residents may apply for a residency permit by accumulating a total of 120 “points,” which are calculated based on an applicant’s age, educational background and occupation, among other factors. As China’s most populous city, Shanghai has 25 million residents, 10 million of which are migrants.

China to aid struggling solar industry China’s State Council has outlined a plan to assist struggling companies in the solar industry. The government will help facilitate mergers and acquisitions and limit unnecessary growth in the sector.

China exports more than 50% of the world’s solar panels, but the industry is currently struggling to maintain profits as supplies exceedingly outweigh international demand. Chinese wafer makers complain that high levies from anti-dumping laws in the U.S. and the EU have hindered their competitiveness in the global market.

LDK Solar Co., the world’s second largest solar panel producer, currently holds a debt of US$2.9 billion. Suntech Power Holdings Co., the largest in the industry, declared bankruptcy in March after a US$541 million bond default.

SHANGHAI BUSINESS

China Mobile to debut 4G in Shanghai A 4G service, which provides mobile telephone users with Internet access 20 to 50 times faster than the current 3G network launched in Shanghai in June as China Mobile begins trial runs. Shanghai followed Shenzhen and Guangzhou as the third city to offer 4G in China’s push towards LTE. The homegrown TD-LTE (time division-long term evolution) network provides users 15 gigabytes of data transfer per month during a free six-month trial. However, devices using

the TD-LTE remain limited because the standard is used almost exclusively in China. Apple’s iPhone 5 and the Samsung Galaxy S4 currently do not support the Chinese technology. Both companies are to release devices supporting TD-LTE by 2014, according to China Mobile.

million metric tons. China imported 68.56 million tons of iron ore last month, according to Reuters, with production peaking within the first 10 days of May, only to decline afterwards.

Baosteel cuts July export plans

Shanghai is paving its way to become the first mainland city with a free-trade zone, subsequent to ongoing reviews by relevant ministry authorities in Beijing.

The bid to ascertain Shanghai as the country’s global financial center, which features full renminbi convertibility, may be implemented as early as July. The calls for trade liberalization come amid reports of Shanghai’s significant deceleration in growth. The free-trade zone, analysts say, is expected to boost competitiveness and growth in the region and could weaken Hong Kong’s status as the Asia’s center for finance, shipping and trade.

The Shanghai Metals Market reports that Baosteel’s price policies for next month lower the price of cold-rolled plate by RMB200 per metric ton. Wuhan Iron and Steel was to adjust prices immediately after Baosteel released their report, but had not released reports yet due to disagreements in pricing. Wuhan Iron and Steel has already lowered prices the past two months. Sluggish orders are attributed to lack of demand and market confidence.

Finished steel exports were down 2.5% in May, with a total production of 5.41

Shanghai to establish freetrade zone

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Ecolab (China) Investment company is the headquarter that Ecolab Group has opened in Greater China. Since its market entry in 1975, Ecolab China has secured its leadership in Chinese food safety and sustainable development, with more than 30 years of expertise and strong scientific capacity that serve the local market. In 2012, we expanded with more than bases, 1 world-class research center and more than

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CHINA & THE WORLD

SOUTH AMERICA ASIA-PACIFIC SIA PACIFIC

KAZAKHSTAN: Silk Road Eurasian rail route revived Kazakhstan has launched a new railway linking Europe and China to beat rival routes in the amount of time taken to haul goods across two continents. The expansion of Kazakhstan’s rail network through China compliments current plans to increase gas pipelines between the two nations. With the new rail network, it takes just 15 days to complete the 6,750 mile journey from the southwestern Chinese city of Chongqing to Duisburg in the industrial Ruhr region of Germany. Freight transport is expected to reach 2 million metric tons this year with the capacity currently set at 15 million.

MIDDLE EAST

ASIA-PACIFIC SIA PACIFIC EUROPE

SOUTH AFRICA: Hisense opens new industrial park Chinese electronics giant Hisense officially opened its new Home Appliances Industrial Park in Atlantis, a town in the Western Cape of South Africa. The 100,000 square meter factory, located 40 kilometers from Cape Town, a major port city, is expected to produce 400,000 TVs and 400,000 refrigerators per year, according to a press release by Hisense. The plant is designed to produce high-end refrigerators and Smart 3D HDTVs for the South African market and more than 30 countries throughout the Sub-Saharan region. Hisense’s investment of RMB215 million in reviving the old Teledex plant is expected to yield 1,200 new jobs for the region.

AFRICA

RUSSIA: US$60b oil deal with China After a meeting with Chinese Vice Premier Zhang Gaoli, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced that state-owned oil company Rosneft has reached an agreement on a US$60 billion deal to increase Russian oil supplies to China. As part of the deal, Rosneft is to collect a US$2 billion loan from China. Russia plans to ramp up oil exports to China by 13% in the next three months. Of its total exports of 4.4 million barrels per day, 750,000 bpd are planned to be sent to the Asia-Pacific region. The state-owned sectors of Russia’s oil industry generated billions of dollars from Beijing by pre-selling its oil under long-term agreements meant to finance further growth and trade.

NORTH AMERICA MIDDLE EAST

MIDDLE EAST EUROPE

AFRICA

Huawei introduces handsets to Middle Eastern market Chinese mobile phone company Huawei introduced two new smart phones in the Persian Gulf in June in a move designed to gain market share in one of the largest markets for telecommunications.

In Dubai at a launch event at the Burj Khalifa, the world’s tallest building, with the introduction of the P2 and the Mate, Huawei said the P2 reaches speeds of up to 150 mbps surfing on 4G networks and the Mate boasts a 6.1-inch screen. In the Gulf region, Samsung is currently the leader in terms of market share with 39.9%, with Blackberry at 21.8% followed by Nokia and Apple at 15%.

SOUTH AMERICA MIDDLE EAST AFRICA

NORTH AMERICA

MEXICO: Pemex signs US$1b deal with Export-Import Bank of China Petróleos Mexicanos (Pemex) has signed a landmark deal with Export-Import Bank of China and will be given a US$1 billion line of credit to acquire vessels and offshore rigging equipment. Pemex CEO Emilio Lozoya signed the agreements during President Xi Jinping’s visit to Mexico on June 4.

The deal hinges on the company’s announcement earlier this April that it will increase oil exports to China by 30,000 barrels per day upon signing a two-year contract with China’s Sinopec. This is the first time the Mexican oil firm has entered a series of long-term contracts with China. Pemex is the world’s fifth largest producer of oil and the largest contributor to Mexico’s federal budget.

SOUTH AMERICA

SOUTH AMERICA EUROPE NORTH AMERICA

ASIA-PACIFIC SIA PACIFIC NORTH AMERICA AFRICA

VENEZUELA: Oil company secures US$4b from China Venezuela is to receive US$4 billion from China for oil development according to state-owned petroleum company Petróleos de Venezuela SA (PDVSA). Funding is likely to be directed at a joint venture between PDVSA and China National Petroleum Corp. in Venezuela’s abundant Orinoco oil belt. The new package, to be provided by the Export-Import Bank of China, adds to the more than US$30 billion Beijing has already provided to Venezuela in exchange for oil futures. The South American nation currently produces three million barrels per day. Venezuela’s output is expected to increase to four million barrels per day by 2014 and six million barrels per day by 2016.

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ASIA-PACIFIC SIA AMERICA PACIFIC SOUTH

M o ve r s a n d S h a k e r s compi l ed by joyce bia n , je n n y x u a n d mar k choi

Movers and Shakers highlights major personnel changes within the Chinese government at various levels and senior management-level movements within multinational companies in China.

HEWLETT-PACKARD Hewlett-Packard Co. has named Todd Bradley Executive Vice President for Strategic Growth Initiatives, where he will be responsible for creating partnerships with early-stage companies in China and around the world to foster greater growth of the company. Bradley was previously the Executive Vice President for Printing and Personal Systems for the last eight years, and received China’s Friendship Award in 2009. Prior to working at Hewlett-Packard, Bradley held several management roles at GE Capital, Dun & Bradstreet, Gateway and FedEx, and most recently Palm.

Todd Bradley

Private Sector KELLY SERVICES Leroy Yue was appointed Managing Director and Country Manager for Kelly Services in China. Yue has had a successful career and experience in the temporary staffing industry around the world and Leroy Yue with various multinational companies, having worked in several countries in both Europe and Asia.

Yue will be in charge of managing the operating units and businesses, leading growth strategy and expansion, opening new offices and building new HR solutions for Chinese and international clients.

GE POWER CONVERSIONS Bo Liu was recently appointed president for GE Power Conversions company in China. Liu will be in charge of developing long-term business and operational strategies for the Greater China region.

Bo Liu Previously, Liu worked as the regional leader for GE Oil & Gas.

UNIVERSAL MUSIC Universal Music has announced Sunny Chang as Chairman and CEO of the Greater China division. Chang will be overseeing operations in China, in addition to Taiwan and Hong Kong. Prior to his appointment, Chang was the Managing Director of Universal Music China, having had extensive experience in the music industry.

GOVERNMENT Ding Wei was appointed Vice Minister of Culture on June 13, replacing Zhao Shaohua. Ding was the former Director of the International Liaison Bureau in the Culture Ministry. He also spent several years as the Chinese Ambassador to Italy, where he organized cultural exchange events to foster bilateral relations.

Ding Wei

Hu Wei was appointed Vice Minister of the General Administration of Customs on June 13, replacing Wang Songhe.

Hu was a standing member of the CPC committee, in addition to being the former Minister of the Publicity Department of the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.

If your company has executive personnel changes, please contact Joyce Bian at joyce.bian@amcham-shanghai.org.

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Working in Shanghai Big Bird’s China Boss Sesame Workshop’s project director in China talks about bringing ‘joyful learning’ to a country obsessed with cramming and testing

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By Angela Doland

Shirley Yi Zhu Company: Sesame Workshop Title: Project Director Hometown: Shanghai, China

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few months ago, Shirley Yi Zhu sat behind a two-way mirror, secretly observing as a focus group of Chinese moms panicked about pre-school education. In the panels that Zhu watched in Shanghai and Beijing, one mom fretted about her child’s first week in grade school, and her realization that all the other kids had been coached on skills long before they set foot in the classroom.

“Parents were saying, ‘(kids) have to go to this school, or go to that school, and once they hit 5 it’s so competitive,’” Zhu recalled.

As project director of Sesame Workshop in China, Zhu observes Chinese parents’ and educators’ concerns, then helps tailor the New York-based organization’s offerings to the local children’s media market. For example, in China, where most kids don’t have brothers and sisters because of the One Child Policy, Big Bird and Elmo put special emphasis on teaching teamwork.

Even in a society where everyone is wellaware of the stereotypes about Chinese “tiger moms,” Zhu says she was caught off-guard by the intensity of pressure on children in Sesame Street’s target age group,

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kids ages 3 to 6.

What Zhu learned in focus groups “was just daunting, and it makes me believe even more that our fun, ‘joyful learning’ approach has a long way to go here,” says Shanghai-born, Harvard-educated Zhu. In China, Sesame Street uses its familiar furry puppets to teach kids about critical thinking and exploring their world – a novel approach in a country where rote memorization is a mainstay in schools.

For five years, Zhu has been working to make Sesame Street’s characters more familiar faces in China, with efforts ranging from a snappy TV program to outreach in earthquake zones. Until February, Zhu did her job from the New York headquarters. Then she made a case for a deeper commitment to China, and Sesame Workshop sent her to open an office in Shanghai, where she heads a team of four.

Big Bird goes to China The décor in Zhu’s office, in a sleek Jing’an office tower, has a playful streak.

The throw pillow on her swivel chair

profiles

is decorated with Elmo’s bulging eyes and big orange nose.

Cookie Monster appears on the cover of her notebook, and a pen topped with Big Bird’s face peeks out of her pencil cup.

From Zhu’s window on the 57th floor, she can look straight down at the first apartment she lived in as a child, in a lane of Spanish-style houses off West Nanjing Road that was spared from bulldozing because of its heritage architecture.

Zhu, 33, can vaguely remember Big Bird’s first foray into China in 1983. Then, Sesame’s creators partnered with CCTV to produce a program about Big Bird on a quest to meet his Chinese alter ego, a phoenix. “Big Bird in China” – featuring the giant bird navigating an era where bicycles and blue Mao jackets were the norm – aired both in the United States and China. Zhu says the image of the big yellow bird stuck with her through childhood.

At 18, Zhu went to the Chinese University of Hong Kong. She worked in Hong Kong as a senior business analyst for McKinsey

& Company before going to Harvard Business School.

At a Harvard job fair, Zhu saw an ad for an internship at Sesame Workshop. She already had a summer job lined up, but she called Sesame Workshop anyway, intrigued by the prospect of mixing international business, education, media and strategy.

Despite her more traditional background, including an internship at Goldman Sachs, Zhu believes Sesame Workshop must have been struck by her passion, her desire to learn something new.

It’s hard to overstate Sesame Street’s role in entertaining and educating several generations of U.S. children. The program was launched in 1968 to teach pre-school kids basic skills like counting, the alphabet and getting along with others. Since then, it has expanded throughout the world. In China, more than 20 million children have watched the show in its latest Chinese form.

Shirley Zhu, right, last month in Guiyang where she launched an educational outreach initiative with partners that included a 3G mobile site with fun interactive content on emergency preparedness for Chinese children and their families.

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INSIGHT The Journal of the American Chamber of Commerce in Shanghai

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“I came to them and said, ‘hey, I’m here, I will work for free … I would love to try it,’” Zhu said. After graduation, she was brought on full-time.

Starts and stops Sesame Street’s story in China has been one of starts and stops. After Big Bird’s first trip to China 30 years ago, Sesame Street aired as a TV show starting in 1998, but it was discontinued after 130 episodes.

The show was re-launched for Chinese viewers in a punchy, 11-minute format that first aired in December 2010 on the Ha Ha Channel before moving to CCTV. Though details are still being sketched out, Sesame Street hopes to launch a second season soon to follow up on the first 52 episodes.

The cast of puppets was pared down to three for the Chinese show, called “Sesame Street’s Bird Bird Looks at the World.”

There’s Big Bird, Elmo (whose screechy voice is less annoying in the Chinese version) and Lily, a tiger with a pink bow in her hair.

“Sesame Street is a global platform, but we also bring in a specific local country perspective, and that’s where Tiger Lily comes in – a tiger is one of the animals the Chinese are really familiar with, and the show was launched around the year of the tiger,” Zhu said. In a twist, the character is a naughty girl tiger who loves kung fu.

Based on research about Chinese children’s needs, the show focuses on science and critical thinking. In an episode about wind, for example, kids team up and try to blow a hat off a table. When that doesn’t work, they turn on a fan. Teamwork is a recurring theme.

“The One Child Policy is an important concern in China,” says Ye Chao, deputy general manager of Shanghai-based Toonmax Media, which partnered with Sesame Workshop on the series.

“Children in China usually don’t have siblings in their families,” he said. “When we do the Chinese version of Sesame Street, we are quite aware of this, so we put more emphasis on teaching children how to communicate with other kids and how to befriend kids from other families.”

The Muppets One complication of bringing Sesame Street to China is that foreign nonprofits have had massive difficulties winning acceptance from Beijing.

“The nonprofit landscape here is very vague,” Zhu says.

Chinese industry players often have trouble understanding how nonprofits work.

Because of those issues, Sesame Workshop was established in China as a for-profit company, though it will remain true to its global ideals by cycling any proceeds from merchandising or

“ In China, where most kids don’t have brothers and sisters because of the One Child Policy, Big Bird and Elmo put special emphasis on teaching teamwork.”

licensing back into content and research. Like it does elsewhere, Sesame is looking for corporate partners and sponsors in China.

To build staying power, Zhu is working to build the brand on many fronts. That means more than just TV programming.

One of those efforts is emergency preparedness outreach, a tactic the Workshop has used in other countries prone to natural disaster, including Japan. Zhu visited schools that were leveled by the 2008 Sichuan earthquake, handing out emergency preparedness DVDs and guiding children in storytelling games.

“We also brought out Elmo as well to walk around – he was hugging everyone, very friendly, we were trying to get them excited, to explain why we were doing this,” Zhu said, recalling a 2011 visit to a school that had been leveled and rebuilt. “After about an hour, they started to laugh, they started to relax, and those are the moments when you could see our work really made a difference.” So far, the project has reached 210 Chinese schools in 15 provinces exposed to natural disasters.

Sesame Workshop also has released books and DVDs, and a live touring show will start up in July, with 100 performances planned in 40 Chinese cities. To mark the 30th anniversary of Big Bird in China, Zhu is putting together a pre-school education symposium, likely in Beijing.

Zhu considers her most important achievement so far to be convincing Sesame Workshop to actually set up a base in China.

It’s been only a few months so far, but she senses a vast potential to engage young learners in ways that are fun – and ways that can fill in some skills they’re lacking.

“We can be teaching critical thinking, problem solving, longerterm values skills,” Zhu says. “That’s the key component.”

Angela Doland is a freelance writer based in Shanghai.

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Working in Shanghai

The ‘Tiger Woods’ of Psychiatry Peter Calafiura, an American psychiatrist, offers insights into the mental health issues facing expats in Shanghai

By Erika Wang

I Name: Peter Calafiura, 49 Company: ParkwayHealth Title: Psychiatrist Hometown: New York

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t’s no surprise that foreigners in Shanghai – especially those on longterm work assignments – face many challenges as well as opportunities that could impact their happiness, health and family life. Not everyone adjusts seamlessly and oftentimes many expats, including executives, may find themselves abusing alcohol, engaging in infidelity or feeling alienated. These problems are not new to Peter Calafiura, an American psychiatrist in Shanghai.

Calafiura has delved into the psyche and inner workings of thousands of expats who through the years have sought his expertise to tackle mental health problems.

Like many expats in Shanghai, Calafiura, 49, a native of New York, first came to China in 2006 for a different reason from the one that ultimately made him stay. Before he arrived in China, he was seeing patients in New Jersey as well as running a business that produced promotional items in China for U.S. pharmaceutical companies.

He visited Shanghai to deal with some business-related issues.

As luck would have it, he found his job as a psychiatrist at ParkwayHealth, a privately

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run health network headquartered in Singapore, during a party in 2008. His smile widens and his gaze grows warmer as he recounts the incident. “Someone holding a glass of wine said something about footand-mouth disease that was completely false, and I said: ‘Well, actually that’s not right.’ And she turned around and said: ‘Are you a doctor or something?’ And I said: ‘Yes, I’m a doctor.’”

The woman, a psychologist, informed him of an opening for a psychiatrist that had just become available that day and he was hired on the spot during an interview a few days later.

Calafiura is a mild-mannered, softspoken yet chatty man with a penchant for medical trivia (“Did you know that calico cats are almost always female? It has to do with the X chromosome, which determines coat color!” he shares excitedly during a separate occasion). Where most doctors are instinctively hesitant to discuss patients, Calafiura, who received his Ph. D. in 1994 from the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, is refreshingly candid and open about his profession, which he says is often misunderstood and

Peter Calafiura in his office

stigmatized in China.

To illustrate, he recalls a string of appearances he made on a local television show where he kept being referred to as a “psychologist.” Despite clarifying with the producers that he is actually a psychiatrist, the misnomer stuck (“I’ve been on the same show eight times and they always edit that out!”). As it was explained to him later, if the audience knew that he’s a psychiatrist, then everyone would think that the other guests on the show are “really sick,” but if he were a psychologist, “then it’s like a friendly person just giving advice,” he adds with air quotes and a smirk.

‘Mistrust of psychiatry’ Calafiura said the mistrust of psychiatry is rooted in historic abuses by the Communist government, who would have no qualms about labeling political opponents or those who didn’t conform as “mentally ill.” Consequently, many Chinese may be sick for a while before they seek treatment, often after failed attempts with acupuncture, TCM (traditional Chinese medicine), Tai Chi and meditation, he says.

At ParkwayHealth, some 30 percent of his patients are local Chinese who see him often for help with anxiety and depression. Less frequently, they have ADHD (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder), bipolar disorder and schizophrenia, he notes, adding that there is also a high degree of alcohol abuse that is “largely unrecognized and therefore untreated.”

The remainder – and majority – of his patients, like others who go to Parkway, are overseas Chinese and foreigners from all walks to life. “From people with a billion dollars to people

“

The biggest challenge that expats deal with in Shanghai is a poor social support system, and an inability to integrate fully into the local culture…”

with a million dollars in debt, from diplomats to backpackers to unemployed,” he explains. Compared with his local patients, Calafiura says their foreign counterparts are by and large healthier, since expat workers are heavily scrutinized by their companies before being sent to China. However, their spouses are not always as lucky.

He offers a typical “worst-case” scenario involving trailing spouses: The working expat takes on a new, sometimes larger role in the company. This may result in longer working hours and more travel, leaving the spouse alone on many occasions.

This situation often leads to issues of infidelity and

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alcoholism, which many expats in Shanghai struggle with, he says. “The men are very vulnerable to the local females because there are differences in values when it comes to love, sex, religion and morality between the East and the West,” he notes.

“In the West, love and sex are tied to religion and ethics and morality and we have a lot of beliefs about these acts and how they should be regulated. Here, sex may be more of a biological function … they don’t tie it up with morality.”

Another aspect that affects people here is that no matter where they come from, they tend to drink more here, a condition Calafiura calls the “cruise ship mentality.” Because much of the socializing and business involves alcohol, there’s a tendency to drink too much here, he observes. (As an interesting aside, Calafiura points out that he has seen several Asian patients over the years who see him mainly to request a doctor’s note that states that they cannot drink alcohol. “They have the letter laminated and stamped, and when they go to their business meeting, they present this right away!” he adds with a chuckle.)

“ Another aspect that affects people here is that no matter where they come from, they tend to drink more here…”

shutterstock

The biggest challenge that expats deal with in Shanghai is a poor social support system, and an inability to integrate fully into the local culture, coupled with a poor social support system that exacerbate conditions like anxiety and depression, says Calafiura, a father of three: Amy, 13, Tova, 9, and Alex, 7.

In the five years that he has practiced psychiatry in Shanghai, Calafiura says that the most dramatic cases he has seen are those involving businessmen who slip into severe manic episodes when they first arrive in Shanghai. “Because of the jetlag and the excitement, they don’t sleep for seven or 10 days and they become wildly manic and start having some really large ideas about money and China and business.” He sees such cases about once a month.

Despite all the issues facing expats, Calafiura says there is hope for them, and offers a few tidbits of advice.

Get a hobby

Alcohol abuse is a problem among some expats

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He suggests they develop and engage in hobbies and outside activities. Calafiura considers his involvement with the Jewish community in Shanghai his “bedrock.” He explains: “At the end of the week I’m with the Jewish community in a synagogue, I’m in another world and it helps me leave the craziness of Shanghai behind for a couple of days.”

If conditions escalate, however, Calafiura’s advice is to seek professional help right away. “The sooner you get treatment, the better,” he says. “It’s a real benefit if you can look at yourself and analyze yourself,” he continues, referring to the misperception that mental health professionals’ duty is to offer advice. “The job of a psychologist or therapist is not to give advice – it’s to help patients get in touch with their own feelings and discover, in a way, what they already know.”

So how does Calafiura assess himself? Showing his own healthy self-image, he proclaims without hesitation: “After many years, it is very easy for me to be highly effective at delivering high-quality care. I love my job. I think of myself as the Tiger Woods of what I do.”

Working in Shanghai

Swimming with Sharks Former marketing specialist for the Shanghai Sharks talks about his efforts to woo foreigners to embrace the local basketball team

By Mary Katherine Smith

N

ew York native Jonathan Zheng loves basketball and so just over a year ago, he relied on his affinity for the game to land a marketing job with the Shanghai Sharks. His main goal was to build interest in the team among the expat community and get them to show up at games. He faced one problem: many foreigners had no idea the team even existed and among many of those who heard of the team, few had a clue where to buy tickets.

Zheng, 24, admitted he wasn’t sure what to expect after he got the job with the Sharks, part of the Chinese Basketball Association (CBA). He recently left the Sharks but while he was on the marketing team and in charge of targeting the expat population, his main goals were to encourage foreign companies to obtain single-game or season tickets, set up marketing and promotion collaborations or bring international school students to a Sharks game. In general, he was tasked with luring foreign companies and the foreign community by involving them with one of the city’s sources of pride.

While most Americans here and Chinese may know Kobe Bryant or other

NBA players, it may be a stretch to ask them to name one member of the Sharks team, although most may know the team is owned by Yao Ming, the former Houston Rockets player.

China’s main basketball league has been around for less than 20 years and now has 17 teams. The season runs five months from November to March and each team plays about 32 regular season games. The Sharks may be playing in China’s economic powerhouse, Shanghai, but their record is anything but impressive, winning only 11 games in the last season.

The team plays in Pudong’s Yuanshen Sports Center. The Sharks’ first season was in 1996 but they went through a major reorganization in 2009 after famed Yao took over.

To say that Zheng is bold and enterprising is an understatement. After spending a semester studying in Shanghai during his undergraduate studies and working as a headhunter on Wall Street, Zheng decided to come back to China in the summer of 2012 to continue studying Mandarin. He sent a LinkedIn message to the Shark’s general manager inquiring

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Jonathan Zheng, 24 Company: Shanghai Sharks Title: International Marketing Specialist [former] Hometown: New York

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The Shanghai Sharks

imaginechina

Yao Ming

about job opportunities.

“I told them I would do anything – I’ll strip the floors, I’ll answer the phones, I just want to be around your organization and learn about the sports industry in China,” Zheng says.

Huge fan Zheng is a huge basketball fan and also wanted to get some experience in sports marketing. Being at a Chinese company was even better because he wanted to put his language skills to use.

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The team was eager to have a Westerner offer a different perspective and he was hired. For the young and spritely Zheng, it was an amazing opportunity, but it was also “great for the team to have this exposure to the international community which they had not done much of in the past,” Zheng says.

As he reached out to the foreign community, Zhang discovered that businesspeople and even some of his friends had heard of the team but they knew little about it. Zheng’s job was to change this by working with multinationals on praetorships and promotions. He was motivated not only to develop new business but also to get the expatriate population interested in the team.

“Americans are sports crazy,” he says, “and to have that outlet to be able to go to a basketball game and to have that social entertainment outlet is something different and fun.”

Mark Zhang, vice president of the Sharks, said Zheng helped to build name recognition among foreign companies and the expatriate community. Despite the language barrier, Zheng was eager to promote the team and brand through social media tools.

Some 300,000 foreigners live in Shanghai and combined with the celebrity status of Yao Ming, the management was optimistic that foreigners living, working and studying in the

“ Zhang discovered that business people and even some of his friends had heard of the team but they knew little about it.”

city could easily be convinced to attend a game or two. Their setback was that they were unsure of how to attract them.

That’s where Zheng came in, says Zhang. “He did a great job in community outreach.”

Memorable night One of his proudest achievements came in January when he managed to invite 250 students from 10 international schools across Shanghai to a Sharks game. He cooperated with the Shanghai International School Activities Conference (SISAC) to plan the event that also allowed for the SISAC cheerleaders to dance with the Sharks cheerleaders during the halftime show.

For Zheng, getting this groups of students to attend the game represented many of his hopes for the team: to promote the team and brand to the international community.

Not only were Zheng and SISAC pleased with the outcome, but Andrew Crawford, a freelance sports journalist who runs the blog sharkfinhoops.com, says the event was a way to bring the two communities – locals and expatriates – together.

Crawford’s blog is the only known English-language media outlet dedicated to the CBA. He recalls attending the game and seeing local fans getting into the halftime show. It was one of the first times the stadium felt nearly full. “It was a really nice touch,” he says. “It was nice seeing everyone coming together for something that is representative of where we all live.”

Crawford, a longtime basketball fan, also feels that building interests in the non-Chinese community is crucial.

“It breaks down the us and them mentality,” he says, adding that when Westerners go to games they have conversations with people that they usually wouldn’t get to know. “Some of the most exciting spectacles I’ve seen have been at a Chinese basketball game,” Crawford says.

A Sharks player ready to shoot

The future One of the crucial components to making the Sharks into something that the expatriate community can enjoy is the vitality of the team. Financial troubles almost dissolved the team but it was prevented after Yao stepped in four years ago. Despite the ups and downs, Zheng and Crawford both are enthusiastic about the future of the Sharks, and more broadly, the CBA. The league may be young but many who are involved are optimistic about the CBA’s future. While Chinese athletic training and the league may be a long way from more successful Western models and efficiency, the CBA has generated a strong following in China. Whether spectators attend the game to show support for their home town or to see former NBA players (the CBA allows two foreigners to play on each team), Chinese basketball is seeing a lot more wins.

“The future of Chinese basketball is bright,” Zheng says.

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d e a l o f th e m o n th

By Jenny Xu

Shuanghui to Acquire Smithfield Foods for US$4.7b

S

huanghui International, China’s largest meat processing enterprise, has signed an agreement to purchase Smithfield Foods, a U.S. company and the world’s l arge s t p or k pro c e s s or an d h o g producer, for US$4.7 billion. Assuming an approximate net debt of US$2.38 billion, Shuanghui will purchase all outstanding shares for US$34 per share. According to Smithfield, the transaction is to be completed towards the second half of the year after approval by shareholders and regulators, including the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States.

According to Smithfield, the purchase price represents a premium of approximately 31 percent over Smithfield’s closing stock price on May 28, 2013, the last trading day prior to the deal’s announcement. Upon completion of the deal, Smithfield will be delisted from the New York Stock Exchange and will operate as a wholly owned independent subsidiary of Shuanghui, said the Virginia-based company.

In a press release, C. Larry Pope, Smithfield president and CEO, said: “With our shared expertise and leadership, we look forward to accelerating a global expansion strategy as part of Shuanghui.”

Meanwhile, Shuanghui Chairman Wan Long said: “Shuanghui will gain access to high-quality, competitively-priced and safe U.S. products, as well as

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Smithfield’s best practices and operational expertise.”

Shuanghui is eager to restore its image after a scandal in 2011 in which it was found to be feeding its pigs clenbuterol, a banned chemical for creating leaner pork that causes health issues in humans. Smithfield has just taken their hogs off feed including ractopamine, a U.S. Food and Drug Administration (USFDA) approved additive for leaner pigs banned in China and other countries.

With a 30 percent market share in food in the U.S., lawmakers expressed concerns over the impact of the Chinese takeover. Smithfield’s largest shareholder with a 5.7 percent stake, Starboard Value LP, has urged against the takeover, arguing that shares would be worth 29 percent to 64 percent more per share if Smithfield broke up into separate units.

Addressing such concerns, Pope said that the company does not anticipate any changes to its business operations in the United States and throughout the world.

Chinese pork consumption is set to reach 52 million tons a year, according to a report by the Earth Policy Institute. China imports 400,000 tons of pork annually.

If approved, this would be the largest Chinese overseas deal since CNOOC Ltd.’s purchase of Canadian oil and gas company Nexen Inc. for US$15.1 billion was approved in February 2013.

IN T ER V IE W B y B r ya n V i r asam i

Got Passport, Will Travel

F

ood products, electronics and toys are some of the top exports from China to the United States but there are signs that Chinese tourists with strong spending power are becoming just as important to the U.S. economy.

The U.S. Embassy in Beijing expects the number of visitors to the U.S. to grow each year.

As a result, they’re increasing the number of staff and opening more visa windows. Charles Bennett, the Minister Counselor for Consular Affairs at the U.S. Embassy in Beijing, recently visited Shanghai and spoke to Insight about what the bureau is doing. Bennett is a 24-year career member of the Foreign Service in the Department of State. He addressed a number of questions and pointed out, among other things, that consular affairs will soon open a full consulate in Wuhan, part of their strategy to improve visa services in China. Below are excerpts from the interview.

Insight: We know more and more Chinese are traveling to the U.S. and it seems easier for them to obtain a tourist visa to the U.S. compared to a few years ago. Has the U.S. government made it easier to get a visa or is it that just more people are applying?

Charles Bennett: “Well I think more people are certainly interested in traveling to the U.S. and we welcome that. That’s something that’s important to the U.S. and I think it’s both people who visit the U.S. to see our national parks and see our beautiful cities and everything else. But I also think more business people are traveling, whether they’re planning on investing in the U.S. or just going there to take care of other types of business.

I think you see a lot more of that. At the same time, we’ve made it a lot more efficient for Chinese to apply for visas to go to the U.S. We’ve just in the last year increased our staffing at all our

Charles Bennett, the Minister Counselor for Consular Affairs at the U.S. Embassy in China, during an interview at the AmCham Shanghai office

posts countrywide. We’ve improved our facilities right here in Shanghai. Within the next six months or so, the number of interview windows will double, the workspace will increase. We have the same kinds of projects going in other posts.

“In about a month in Guangzhou, they will move to a beautiful new consulate compound which includes a huge consular section for visa interviews and assisting U.S. citizens. And we’ve also, in addition to the facilities, increased our s t a f f s i g n i f i c a n t l y o v e r t h e y e a r o r s o.

Countrywide, we’ve increased our consular staff by about 50 people. That’s just Americans doing this type of work. And finally what we’ve done is we’ve change d many of ou r p ol i c i e s and procedures.

“In mid-March we started a program where we have contracted to a private contractor many of the functions that are required for somebody to make an appointment, to apply for a visa, to pay

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The Minister Counselor for Consular Affairs discusses what the bureau is doing about the growing desire among Chinese to visit America

“

Within the next six months or so, the number of interview windows will double, the workspace will increase.”

Washington, D.C. is a popular stop for Chinese tourists visiting the United States

for their fee to apply for a visa, and to get their passport back after they’ve applied for their visa.

So that’s now handled under an umbrella contract.”

Insight: Do you expect it to be easier for Chinese business travelers to get a U.S. visa?

CB: “The processes and changes I mentioned help everybody. They help tourists, they help business travelers, they help students. There are more Chinese students in the U.S. than any other nationality – about 200,000 students there. The ambassador is very interested in these issues, he talks to me weekly, if not almost daily about these things. And he just provides great leadership for the U.S. and support for the U.S. in our efforts to make some of these changes happen.

“If we have knowledge of large groups of bus i ne ss t r avel e rs , t h rou g h ou r e x ist i ng appointment system, we have ways of grouping people together. If we have 20 or 30 or 40 people who are traveling together as a business group – an example is Amway – we can manage to get them all appointments together – so that helps our officers process those cases.”

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Insight: We hear often about the rise of secondand third-tier cities in China. Do you see a growing interest in people in cities such as Chengdu and Shenzhen looking to visit the U.S. either on business or as tourists?

CB: “I think more and more people from outside the major cities in China, both businesspeople and others, are traveling to the U.S. One of the things we often hear about is the difficulty in applying for a visa if you live in – let me pick a city – Xi’an, and the nearest U.S. facility to apply for a visa is Beijing or Chengdu, or some other place. I agree it does take time to fly or take the train to a place where we have a facility, but I think with the new appointment system that I was talking about it’s very simple: You can go online and book an appointment like you would an airplane seat.

“The other thing I need to mention is that for people who have travelled to the U.S. before, and who have had a visa – about a year and a half ago – the U.S. government made it much easier for you to reapply for a subsequent visa. And in most cases you don’t have to come in for a personal interview. You just take your passport and your

application to the nearest Citic bank – that’s the contractor that handles this.”

Insight: Can you provide some breakdown of the type of people who are applying for tourist visas?

Are they young and successful businesspeople or retirees with time to travel?

CB: “Really, I think it’s everybody. What I find interesting is that depending on the time of the year, we see different groups of people coming in.

So right now we see a lot of students, lots and lots of students. After the student season, let’s say in August or September, then you might see more tourist travelers. They want to go in the fall to the U.S. In December and January we see a lot of families coming in. They want to take advantage of the Chinese New Year holiday to travel to the U.S. “An interesting phenomenon, I worked in China 12 years ago, we see it now but we didn’t see it then, but in about March, you see all the parents of the kids graduating. These 200,000 kids, every year about a quarter of them graduate, 50,000 of them graduate and the parents of course want to go back and see them graduate. So it’s really a wide variety of people who are traveling.

We get a lot of people associated with the Chinese government traveling. I think about 20 percent or so of our applicants are related to the government in some way.”

Insight: Your job is interesting but what is the most challenging part of your job?

CB: “I think the most challenging thing probably is we have five posts in China that process visas.

We have about 168 consulate officers spread throughout the country. We have about 360 Chinese staff working in all these sections. So I think the most challenging thing is to make sure that at all those places we are providing consistent service, good service, fair service so that a person who applies for a visa in Beijing is going to have the same experience as the person in Shanghai or Shenyang or Chengdu has.”

Insight: What is the most interesting trend in terms of the types of visa requests consular affairs get in China?

CB: “I keep a close eye on student travel to see what’s happening there. I also keep a close eye on travel – not the traditional type of business travel – but t ravel t hat’s fo c us ed more towards investments in the U.S. That’s a high priority for the U.S. And also business travel that involves large sales of business items to China – Boeing airplanes, GE power plants and that sort of thing.

That’s important for the United States, it’s important for China. I think we’re seeing more of that and that’s something we want to make sure we’re doing correctly.”

Insight: Have you noticed an increase in FDI interest among Chinese?

CB: “We love investments in the U.S. There’s perhaps a bit of a misperception among many in China. That to invest your money – if you’re Chinese – to invest your money in the United States you need one of these EB5 investor’s visa or some other special visa. We’re happy to issue you a B1/B2 visa and go ahead and take your money and invest it in the U.S. It’s legal. The U.S. has one of the most open investment regimes in the world and we welcome people who want to invest.”

“

There are more Chinese students in the U.S. than any other nationality – about 200,000 students there.”

Numbers at a Glance Across China, U.S. consulate officers are processing more and more visa applications from Chinese citizens every year.

168,393

China total

May 2013 visas processed

Shanghai total May 2013

44,354

visas processed

Calendar Year 2012: 1.36 million non-immigrant visa (NIV) applications processed, a 26 percent increase over the previous year and a 74 percent increase over the past two years.

Source: Bureau of Consular Affairs, U.S. Embassy in China

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Trouble in the Air The number of expats fleeing severe air pollution in Beijing is not significant but some foreign companies may choose other Chinese cities to launch their business, observers say

By Linda Yu

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t’s s a f e t o s ay t h at f or s om e t i m e n ow, m o s t conversations among expats in Beijing typically involve some reference to the congested traffic, suspicious alcohol or a surprisingly dangerous figure on the air pollution index. In the earlier part of the year, however, after readings on the index hovered far too long in the “hazardous” range, many Americans and other foreign executives in the city have been asking a new question: Is it time to pack up and leave the Chinese capital?

While the deprived air quality has not dominated the headlines like it did in the first half of the year, the unusually grey skies that made day appear more as night, remains etched in the minds of many people. On January 12 for example, as

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thick smog hung over the city, it was nearly impossible to see skyscrapers just a few meters ahead. The U.S. Embassy reported the air quality reading at 755, or “beyond index,” meaning that it was too high to measure. By comparison, the “hazardous” limit is from 301 to 500. The reading corresponds to a PM2.5 (fine particulate matter) density of 886 micrograms per cubic meter – about 22 times over the level deemed safe by the World Health Organization.

Around that time, the hazy skies made for good headlines that asked if foreign executives would refuse to take up assignments in Beijing, request a new posting in another city or just leave the country altogether. Based on interviews with executives at foreign firms, international schools, doctors,

c o v e R sto r y

xinhua

recruitment firms and moving companies, it remains unclear whether the number of people who have left or plan to leave the city due to air pollution is measurable. And while it may be a handful here and a handful there, the issue is certainly something many are thinking about more often, especially if they have children with them here.

Nevertheless, many agree that without any dramatic improvements, the air quality issue could prove a liability when it comes to attracting foreign investors and skilled talent, says Tim Lamb, managing director of The JLJ Group, a Shanghai-headquartered U.S. consultancy that helps firms find a footing in the Chinese market.

The Maryland native says that worsening air quality could

Visitors at Tiananmen Square in Beijing

xinhua

Engaging in outdoor activities can come with challenges in polluted cities

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imaginechina

The CCTV Tower on a clear day and a smoggy day

“

So by and large, if Westerners have a choice, then they would rather go than stay.”

– Ivo Hahn, Greater China CEO, Stanton Chase International

also see Beijing lose out when pitted against slightly less polluted rivals like Shanghai for example, when companies decide where to open up their first office in China.

“People will consider whether it’s worth endangering their family’s health to form a business,” he says.

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This winter – a season when coal-fired plants are used across the city to heat homes and offices in Beijing – the air was much worse. But even today, air quality levels in the city continue to fluctuate. In April, 62.1 percent of days met air quality standards while there were just eight days in May, or 25.8 percent, according to China’s Ministry of Environmental Protection.

Ready to go Ivo Hahn, the Greater China CEO of Stanton Chase International, a London-headquartered global executive recruiter, says all of it has pushed expats to wonder whether it’s time to leave.

“The pollution in China is going to get worse and much worse before it gets better,” says Hahn, a Swiss national who has been working in Asia for more than 30 years. “So by and large, if Westerners have a choice, then they would rather go than stay.”

While it’s not a cut-and-dry decision for most, it is a matter of livelihood for those who choose to go.

“In the last three weeks I’ve spoken to three people who

c o v e R sto r y

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If pollution continues to be a serious problem in Beijing, it will be detrimental to the local economy, to bolstering foreign direct investments and to representing the city.”

- Tim Lamb, managing director, JLJ Group

have moved out of China, two were in Beijing and one was in Shanghai,” he says. “It has become a question of livelihood for many people; they need to earn money to pay bills, but once exceeding that, the next concern is health and family, and that becomes a higher priority when they have young children.”

The problem didn’t appear overnight. Beijing has been trying to tackle air pollution problems for years without much success. Efforts to limit cars on the blocked roads have hardly reduced carbon emissions in factory-dense northern China.

The Ministry of Environmental Protection’s May rankings of the 10 worst air quality cities in the country lists six cities in North China’s Hebei province alone and Beijing was placed eighth.

Hahn also points out that many who want to take off simply cannot do so.

“This is even true among European people because the economy is not good in many countries so they don’t have many options to go back,” he says. “It’s not just pollution but the economic situation that impacts their decision; if they’re from a country where the economy is not great then they can earn better money in China.”

A popular alternative these days is Hong Kong, says Hahn.

He has noticed a significant spike this year in the number of China-based foreign executives looking for opportunities there because it positions them in close proximity to the world’s

second-largest economy while allowing them a chance to live in a less polluted environment.

Hong Kong-headquartered Links Moving Asia, a global relocation services provider, reports similar changes among Beijing-based clients. This year, a noticeably higher number of them have said that they are leaving partly due to the air quality, according to the company’s Beijing manager Patricia Reme.

She says that a majority of the clients are above 35 years old and have young children, with Australia, New Zealand, Europe, the U.S. and Singapore serving as popular destinations after they leave Beijing.

“There are also some people choosing other locations in China to move from the Beijing air, especially Shanghai and Hong Kong,” she says.

The dire situation has even prompted some to leave without their company’s blessings.

“Another significant thing we’re seeing (in response to the pollution) is more clients choosing to leave China themselves as a personal paid move, without pay from their company, and in some cases, even without a job abroad. Most of them, again, are young families,” she says.

Cleanup time The poor air isn’t just a concern among expats. For years, stories about rich and moneyed Chinese finding

Ivo Hahn, the Greater China CEO of Stanton Chase International

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ways to move overseas with their families and wealth have been common in both the Chinese and English language press.

It seems that the Chinese government is paying attention.

In June, China’s State Council unveiled 10 broad measures intended to reduce air pollution, which some experts have recognized as the most aggressive plan aimed at tackling the soaring issue yet. The agenda was announced just weeks after firms in heavy-polluted industries were directed to cut emissions by 30 percent by 2017.

The ambitious goal of fighting the pollution could not be of more importance to Beijing’s economic future, says The JLJ Group’s Lamb. He

Geoffrey Andrews, director, Western Academy of Beijing

Max Price, partner at Antal International China

Top Ten Most Polluted Chinese Cities imaginechina

Lanzhou Beijing 1 2 Urumqi Chengdu 3 4 Xi’an Tianjin 5 6 Xining Nanjing 7 8 Harbin Zhengzhou 9 10 The rankings are based on daily air quality figures of major cities supplied by China’s Ministry of Environment and covers 2012. Air quality index was measured according to days with Grade 1 (excellent air quality) and Grade 2 level (good), days with sulfur dioxide, days with nitrogen dioxide and the days with inhalable air particles.

Source: Friends of Nature

A view of Lanzhou

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says that the longer pollution afflicts Beijing, the more difficult it will be for the capital to hold on to its international reputation as an attractive city for business.

“If pollution continues to be a serious problem in Beijing, it will be detrimental to the local economy, to bolstering foreign direct investments and to representing the city,” he says.

China’s pollution problem as a whole also begs questions for management strategies within a global economy, says Stanton Chase’s Hahn.

“Some senior executives are seeing the pollution as an extra argument to consider locations other than China,” he says.

“American companies are asking themselves: ‘Why do we relocate manufacturing factories to China when costs are going up and U.S. labor costs are coming down?’ And now, on top of that, with heavy pollution, it may fuel arguments to transfer manufacturing back to the U.S. (when it comes to light industry, electronics, IT and computer-related sectors, which

are not extremely labor-intensive and are more at the upperend of the chain).”

There’s also another reason.

“The other thing is that maybe there are not that many exciting opportunities here anymore as the West recovers a little and the U.S. becomes more inviting,” he says. “At the same time, with pollution continuing, China is becoming less attractive.”

Apart from business prospects, part of China’s appeal for many foreigners is the opportunity to live in a fast-changing country with deep cultural roots. But now many are choosing to be a bit more practical.

“They’re mainly scared about two things: the first is that the air here is so bad that they cannot take their children outside to play, and the second is about the food scandals polluting the soil and water and getting into the vegetables that they buy and bring home to cook,” says Links Moving Asia’s Reme.

shutterstock

Some executives prefer to live in Hong Kong and make frequent business trips to Beijing

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The Dangers of Air Pollution Around the World

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For us it is business as usual; obviously we’re not immune to these kinds of conversations, but we haven’t lost any placements or had candidates reject jobs in Beijing...”

– Natalia Shuman, North Asia COO for international recruiter Kelly Services

Health anxieties

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Source: World Health Organization

imaginechina

American family physician Richard Saint Cyr of Beijing United Hospital, says that pollution in the beginning of the year heightened anxieties for parents with young children. In the months of extreme pollution, a higher number of patients went in to see him for asthma, coughing and shortness of breath, symptoms triggered by the vile air quality in the city.

“It was a very dangerous time for a lot of people,” says Saint Cyr, who also runs his own public health website in Beijing, which has a following from expats concerned about their wellbeing in China given the country’s ever-growing list of health risks, including the latest influenza scare.

Now, even on days when pollution is more restrained, Beijing’s unpredictable air quality levels mean that parents are still very worried about their children’s health safety, he says.

“I’ve definitely been having more conversations about this with people since January,” he says. “It [the start of the year] has left a lot of people thinking about pollution more than ever, if that was even possible.”

Many executives who brought their families here have additional reasons to be concerned. At international schools in the city, the picture also reveals one of anxious parents, some of whom are still mulling over the decision to stay in Beijing.

During a recent meeting with fellow heads of international

• An estimated 2 million people worldwide die from air pollution every year • China sees an estimated 299,400 deaths resulting from pollution per year compared to the U.S. which sees an estimated 40,600 deaths annually • Asian cities Karachi, New Delhi, Katmandu, Beijing and Latin American cities Lima, Arequipa, and African city Cairo are among the world’s cities with very high air pollution • Populations in developing countries often have the biggest air pollution-related burden to health but substantial health concerns affect relatively cleaner cities in developed European or North American countries • Exposure to air pollutants is largely beyond the control of individuals and requires action by public au t h o r i t i e s at r e g i o n a l , n at i o n a l a n d e v e n international levels

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schools in the city, some leaders reported a trickling-off in admissions applications figures for the coming semester, according to Western Academy of Beijing Director Geoffrey Andrews, an American.

He says that several of the incoming parents have expressed concern about the air quality in Beijing, and it has also been cited by leaving parents as a contributing factor in their reasons for departure.

But overall, Andrews says that it’s turning out to be more or less a standard year for enrollment so far.

However, he notes that the overseas applications for the school’s fall term have not increased relative to a year ago, in contrast to enrollment patterns from recent years.

As overseas headquarters turn to the news to find out what is happening thousands of miles away, many are asking Chinabased offices more questions about the pollution and some of them are responding to the situation in ways that could be starting to change the game.

Indeed, there are companies now offering foreign executives in Beijing “danger pay.” The benefit traditionally associated with people working in politically unstable areas is now becoming more common for health risk areas, according to British national Max Price, partner at UK global executive recruiter Antal International China.

“This is far from normal, but is increasing to significant levels” he says. “The amount ranges, but five to 10 percent of the annual base salary is the average. This is not something we are seeing in local contracts though.”

Land of opportunity But even without danger pay, many people are still willing to seek opportunities in Beijing, says Natalia Shuman, North Asia COO for international recruiter Kelly Services.

While Shuman notes reluctance from some foreigners to move to Beijing from certain areas – particularly those settled in Singapore for instance, because they can still make frequent trips to China rather than uproot their families. Yet generally speaking, she says that a majority of candidates are not shutting out Beijing due to the recent spell of pollution.

“For us it is business as usual; obviously we’re not immune to these kinds of conversations, but we haven’t lost any placements or had candidates reject jobs in Beijing because of location (in terms of pollution),” says the Russian-born American. “More important to them is still the opportunity,

Natalia Shuman, North Asia COO for international recruiter Kelly Services

and it is the benefits of the job that really continues to be much more important.”

Not everyone is in a hurry to leave either, says Shuman.

“We just had an American client turn down an opportunity in Shanghai to stay in Beijing because in the end, he decided that it was important for his kids to be able to continue their education at the same school, even though the benefits package offered included their education in Shanghai,” she says. “The pollution in Beijing didn’t factor into his decision.”

Naturally, however, as poor air quality weighs more heavily on both the minds and lungs of residents, there is increasingly strong appeal from international business executives to see China’s pollution problem brought under control by using measures that are as effective and efficient as they are sustainable, she says.

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C S R IN C HIN A B y E r i k a Wa n g

CSR – Reality on the Ground What is China doing right, what needs to be improved and what does it all mean?

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f t e r C h i n a ’s F a i r L a b o r Asso ciation declared that a major electronics manufacturer had seriously violated China’s labor laws at three facilities in two southern Chinese cities, it reinforced a stereotype that the Chinese factory is one with overworked employees, poor working conditions and questionable safety issues.

Following the association’s repor t, the supplier and its largest client agreed to bring its factories within China’s legal limit to improve worker compensation and living conditions –

but the damage had already been done.

The report raised the question of corporate social responsibility (CSR) within the country. Is it a matter of perception and does it work? What does CSR mean and is it making a difference?

For some scholars and experts, China has room to improve but overall, it is making more progress than what’s being reported. And they also say that China has a good reason to prioritize CSR: as it works to enhance its presence on the global stage and become a world player, it will have no choice but to demonstrate its commitment to social responsibility.

Intel volunteers and a group of performers during the opening of the 2012 Social Innovation Week, a CSR initiative that aims to encourage individuals to make a difference in the community, held last May in Shanghai.

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What is CSR? Different definitions of CSR have led to misunderstanding and skepticism of its purpose and legitimacy. The World Business Council for Sustainable Development defines CSR as “the c o nt i nu i n g c o m m i t m e nt b y b u s i n e s s t o contribute to economic development while improving the quality of life of the workforce and their families as well as of the community and society at large.” The European Commission o f f e r s a m o r e s u c c i n c t d e f i n i t i o n : “t h e responsibility of enterprises for their impacts on society.” Whatever language used, at its core, CSR aims to address and align issues related to business, environment, economy and society.

For Simon Z adek, senior fellow at the International Institute for Sustainable Development and visiting scholar at Tsinghua University in Beijing, “corporate responsibility is the way in which companies manage their social and environmental impact as part of their financial performance.”

He adds that effective CSR must meet three conditions: integration, transparency and system-changing effects. “ It’s t h e w a y y o u d o b u s i n e s s … t h e transparency of the way you do business…and ensuring that the way that you do business is both responsible operationally and it is also trying to change the context within which you’re in (e.g., the way in which your markets work, communities function, trade and investment rules operate).”

To be effective, CSR initiatives must be embedded at the strategic level of a company, and not just as a program. “The moment you have a program, it’s not strategy, so anybody who’s got a program, has a problem. It’s as simple as that. What we’re trying to do is encourage a responsible way to business, not encourage an interesting use of profits,” says Zadek. “It’s how you make money, not how to spend it.”

Bradley Googins, former director of the Center for Corporate Citizenship at Boston

College, has a different view.

“CSR has often been no more than ‘PR green w a s h i n g ,’” h e s a y s . B u t m o r e a n d m o r e companies are realizing that this can no longer serve as a lead for their CSR, he adds. In China, CSR is a relatively new concept, seen just 10 years ago as indirect protectionism by the West.

By comparison, CSR in the United States has been developing over a century. Most scholars agree that CSR emerged in China in the 1980s and 1990s as a way to monitor and ensure supply chain compliance between Western brands such as Nike and Reebok and their Chinese suppliers.

Today’s CSR in China is marked by a shift in the government from passive to active player in CSR development and growing involvement of foreign multinationals. As Zadek points out, the current stage of CSR in China signals a change in the relationship between foreign multinationals and China, both as the Chinese domestic market becomes more important, as well as Chinese policy internationally becomes more important to foreign multinationals.

What’s being done right?

One area where CSR is making headway in China is in the growing volume of outward investment. China’s outward investment grew on average 35 percent a year from 2005–2012, a c c o r d i n g t o t h e c o u n t r y ’s M i n i s t r y o f Commerce. In 2012, Chinese companies were engaged in 455 outward investment and M&A projects, with a transaction value of US$42.62 billion.

The significance of improving performance of Chinese corporations abroad holds repercussions for the entire economy.

“China will fail as a large global economy, as a country that has a footprint across the world, if it does not demonstrate to its customers, employees, international investment community and other governments that it can operate businesses globally in a responsible manner,” Zadek says.

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“

To be effective, CSR initiatives must be embedded at the strategic level of a company, and not just as a program.”

Simon Zadek

Bradley Googins

companies, which accounted for 38 percent of the southern city’s total emissions in 2010.

Yet another area where progress can be seen in China is in CSR reporting. The number of sust ai nabi l it y re p or t s issu e d by C h i ne s e companies has risen from just one in 2001 to 1,337 as of October of 2012, according to the China WTO Tribune. Meanwhile, state-owned enterprises, which form the backbone of business in China, increased CSR reports from five in 2006 to 76 in 2011.

“Overall, the progress of CSR management and rep or t ing of f ir ms in C hina is quite impressive,” says Ni Na, assistant professor at the Faculty of Business of Hong Kong Polytechnic University.

In particular, she notes Ping An Insurance ( G r o u p ) C o m p a ny o f C h i n a a m o n g t h e companies that are excelling in CSR reporting.

The benefits are multifold because firms include information about their CSR activities and therefore contribute to increasing transparency in the field; they also engage employees in the process since they need substantial input from them to compile data on specific types and hours of employee volunteering. The compilation effort itself guides employees’ behaviors and imbues them with a strong sense of organizational

Another area where progress is seen is in environmental legislation, particularly in the case of emission trading schemes. Emissions trading is designed to control pollution by setting a price on carbon dioxide, the main greenhouse gas said to be responsible for climate change, and distributing permits equal to one t on of c a r b on t o e a c h e m itt e r b a s e d on maximum level of carbon dioxide that can be emitted in a country or region. Less polluting companies can sell their permits to firms that pollute more, and therefore the schemes provide economic incentives for reducing the emission of pollutants.

In 2011, the world’s largest carbon emitter st ar te d s e ven c arb on trading pilot programs – in the cities of Shenzhen, Beijing, Shanghai, Tianjin and Chongqing, and t he prov inces of Guangdong and Hubei.

The Shenzhen Carbon Exchange officially l au n c h e d l a s t m ont h Experts say Ping An Insurance (Group) Company of China is a good covering 635 industrial example of CSR reporting and construction

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identity, i.e., “who we are as an organization,” says Ni.

What needs to be improved?

Despite progress in some areas, much more remains to be done. China’s emissions continue to rise given the continued increase in coal-fired power stations, the nation’s biggest source of carbon emissions and which account for more than 60 percent of its electricity supply.

When it comes to CSR practices, foreign companies usually have the advantage over their Chinese counterparts of better technology and management skills, says Zadek. But on the other hand, what they don’t have is knowledge of how to engage in policy effectively and they don’t know how to drive compliance into their value chains, he adds.

The result is that many multinationals have problems in their value chains, they don’t know how often to build long-term relationships with communities, and they don’t know how to ef fe c t ively b e come p ar t of C hina g lob a l.

“Multinationals need to understand that in the past they understood corporate responsibility from how they did business in America, or Germany or Japan. And in the future, in part, they’ll have to understand corporate responsibility from a Chinese perspective,” says Zadek.

And since most foreign companies’ business models are decided outside China, their CSR practices in China are largely extensions of how they would operate elsewhere in the world, with very few that are rooted in a different way of doing business in China, he adds.

GE’s Shanghai-based R&D facility, which is beginning to develop a generation of products that adapt to Chinese conditions and lower income needs, is a good example of taking advantage of local assets to do something constructive. And GE’s In China For China (ICFC) projects, launched in 2008 with US$15 million in funds, aim to support the localization

Qiang Zhang

Ni Na

“

of technology and products.

What’s next?

D e s pit e c h a l l e nge s , o b s e r ve r s re m ai n optimistic, and see opportunities for cross-sector collaboration.

For Qiang Zhang, associate dean at Beijing N o r m a l U n i v e r s i t y ’s S c h o o l o f S o c i a l Development and Public Policy, the future of CSR in China lies somewhere in the intersection between government, companies and NGOs. “In China, companies will play a very unique role during this reform because it’s very easy for governments to recognize businessmen, but [not] if you’re an NGO,” referring to China’s more cautious attitude towards NGOs because of the possibility that these might have political or religious agendas.

Perhaps more importantly, observers see China improving its CSR record because as it expands abroad, there seems to be no other choice. “It’s very rare that one says what happens in one country will change the world but it is true in this case,” says Zadek. “Sustainability has to take root in China for our global economy to function essentially … If we don’t get this right here, there is no home on the globe that is safe.”

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….Many multinationals have problems in their value chains, they don’t know how often to build long-term relationships with communities…”

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inside amcham from the chair

Robert Theleen Chair of the Board of Governors

W Dear members,

ith the arrival of summer it seems appropriate to think of faraway places, of home and family with whom we can spend a few weeks to recharge our batteries and enjoy the outdoors.

It also seems to be an extremely difficult time to adequately assess the direction of both the U.S. and Chinese economy. With both countries in some form of transition, the summer may prove to be a period of economic and financial surprise.

However, if there is any certainty about China and the growing opportunities ahead for American companies, the food industry is a good example. Our members in this industry combine the best in food safety with the most advanced food technology in the marketplace. Today, American companies are supplying not only record levels of grain, but also a variety of food and beverage products throughout China.

To examine these issues in greater detail, AmCham Shanghai held our third annual Food Safety and Sustainability Conference in May. I was proud of our Food and Beverage Committee leadership – Nor Coquillard, Tim Wang, Li Xin, Shirley Lu and our AmCham staff, led by Stefanie Myers, who organized an extraordinary array of talented speakers who provided the large audience with valuable insights into China’s food industry.

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We learned about the speed in which China’s vast food supply has been transformed from local food sourcing to a global supply chain that has significantly outpaced the capacity of China’s food regulators to keep pace. Thirty years ago, 90 percent of all Chinese people consumed food that was produced within 10 miles of where they lived. With the greatest build-out of infrastructure in history, food is rapidly moving across this continent, in a similar fashion to the continental United States. At present, only 80,000 inspectors have responsibility for covering 400 million food producers China-wide as regulators are trying to keep pace with the transformation of the food industry.

Thank you to everyone who participated in our conference and helped make it a great event. Look for more success ahead by U.S. companies in this critical industry.

Another exciting piece of news to share with our members is that AmCham Shanghai will launch our new SME Virtual Center site this month. The SME virtual portal promises to be more than a passive tool for information. It will become AmCham Shanghai’s first virtual office to reach out to small- and mediumsized enterprises not only here in China but also in the U.S. who lack the benefits of a first-hand presence in China.

In May, Brenda Foster and senior members of our staff held a “soft opening” of the SME Center which included discussions with a number of key Washington-based organizations, such as the US Chamber of Commerce, the National Governors Association, the U.S. Export-Import Bank, the Small Business Administration, Minority Business Development Agency and the U.S. Department of Commerce. All of these institutions reacted positively to this outreach effort with our new SME website directed to U.S. companies.

We are also being approached by Chinese private and government organizations to assist them in attracting U.S. companies to their cities and provinces. Furthermore, we believe our website will assist Chinese investors seeking to find investment opportunities in the U.S. by showcasing investment projects from various U.S. states and localities. The AmCham Shanghai virtual SME Center will not only expand our reach to the U.S., but will also be a catalyst for creating more business access opportunities in China for our members.

Finally, in this month’s Insight, we are focusing on CSR, which has become an important part of our American culture in attempting to reach out to the less fortunate in our communities who live in China. For that, I thank all of you, both individually and through your corporations, for your generosity in supporting AmCham Shanghai’s CSR programs.

From all of us at AmCham Shanghai, we wish you a very exciting summer.

inside amcham B O A R D o f g o v er n o r s br i e f i n g

Highlights from the June 2013 Board of Governors Meeting Nomination and Elections Committee (NEC) The 2012 Chair presented the 2012 NEC Report to the Board with their recommendations. The 2013 Chair noted the 2013 NEC has been formed and will have its first organizational meeting in June.

Membership Satisfaction Survey 2012–2013 The annual Membership Satisfaction Survey was conducted between February and April and 515 members responded. Results were positive and insightful. The category of “extremely satisfied with membership” improved by 8 percent, and the combined area of “extremely satisfied and satisfied with membership” improved approximately 5 percent. Top areas of satisfaction were conferences, e.g. Food, Agriculture and Beverage (FAB), Manufacturing, Committee meetings, industry roundtables, education and training, Yangtze River Delta (YRD) and Small and Medium Enterprise (SME) initiatives. Members voiced a desire for more high-profile speakers.

SME Virtual Center update Scott Williams, Vice President of Programs & Services, reported Phase One of the virtual SME Center will launch in July. Members, including new members, will have premium-level access at no cost

through June 30, 2014. Non-members will be able to access the virtual site if they pay a fee and become a premium subscriber.

Yangtze River Delta Initiative (YRD) expansion YRD Center Program Manager Jonathan Shyu provided an update regarding AmCham Shanghai’s expansion plans in the YRD. As part of 2013–2014 action plans, and due to increased programming and membership growth, AmCham Shanghai’s YRD office will be expanded. The new office is expected to be located adjacent to the current office and will be used to host about 80 percent of all future events.

In Attendance Governors: Andrew Au, Jimmy Chen, Lienjing Chen, Sherman Chu, Keith Cole, Jim Mullinax, Robert Theleen (Chair), Eric Zheng Apologies: William Brekke, Curtis Hutchins, Kenneth Jarrett, Marie Kissel, Peter Sykes Attendees: David Basmajian, Steven Chan, Brenda Foster (President), Patsy Li, Stefanie Myers, Helen Ren, Linda Wang, Scott Williams, Jessica Wu, Jonathan Shyu

The AmCham Shanghai 2013 Board of Governors Governors

Chair

Andrew Au Citibank China

Jimmy Chen FedEx Express

Sherman Chu Cisco Systems

Keith N. Cole General Motors

Kenneth Jarrett APCO Worldwide

Marie Kissel Baxter Asia-Pacific

Chen Lienjing Pratt & Whitney

Peter Sykes Dow Chemical

Eric Zheng AIG Insurance

Robert Theleen ChinaVest

Vice Chair

Curtis Hutchins Eaton (China) Investments

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AmCham Shanghai New Members U.S. Corporate Membership Lennox (Shanghai) Refrigeration Technology Consulting Co., Ltd. FANG Hang North Highland China Co., Ltd. CARTER Steve Seyfarth Shaw LLP, Shanghai Rep. Office WAN Li USA University Air Charters, LLC., Shanghai Rep. Office ZINKOWSKI Patricia Winston & Strawn LLP, Shanghai Rep. Office SCOTT Brinton M.

Shanghai Ceridian Stored Value Solutions Information Technology Co., Ltd. YUAN Yi Small Business Membership Community Roots China (Shanghai) Limited SPOKE Marie-Lucie DFS Consulting (Shanghai) Co., Ltd. WOOLLEY Paul Forefront Medical Technology (Jiangsu) Co., Ltd., Shanghai Branch CHONG Joo Sam Maverlinn Shanghai Limited COISPEAU Chai-Lin

U.S. Associated Corporate Membership

Shanghai Far Glory Business Services Co., Ltd. LIN Pamela

ADP Vehicle Information Technology (Shanghai) Co., Ltd. TAN Peng-Wei

Associate Membership

Argon Medical Consulting (Shanghai) Co., Ltd. ZHU Yi First Quality Nonwovens (Wuxi) Co., Ltd. BODFORD Allen GroupM (Shanghai) Advertising Co., Ltd LI Stewart Huntsman Chemistry R&D Center (Shanghai) Co., Ltd. SHENG Enshan Merkle Business Information Consulting (Shanghai) Co., Ltd. WU Raymond OnCore Manufacturing Services (Suzhou) Inc. XUE Alan Plantronics Trading (Suzhou) Co., Ltd. JING Xiaohong Qualcomm Wireless Semi Conductor Technologies Limited, Shanghai Branch Office ZHAO Bin Shanghai BPI Trading Co., Ltd. SEDLOCK Daniel Thomas Shanghai Pizzavest Fast Food Co., Ltd. DEBOER Douglas Ryan Smith & Nephew Medical (Shanghai), Ltd. WANG Glendy Xylem (China) Company Limited LIU Wendy Corporate Int’l Affiliate Membership Capvision Partners (Shanghai) Co., Ltd. HONG Kai Hilton Nanjing ZITNIK Joseph Lianyungang Chai & Sons International Trade Co., Ltd. CHAI Yong Shanghai 21st Century Hotel Co., Ltd. BOYER Scott

Agilent Technologies (Shanghai) Co., Ltd. FU Xiangdong AIG Insurance Company China Limited PAN Jeffrey Alcoa Wheel Products (Suzhou) Co., Ltd. PAN Ming Aperian Global (Shanghai) Consultancy Limited SHEN Michael Baxter (China) Investment Co., Ltd. ZHANG Grace Bureau Veritas Consulting (Shanghai) Co., Ltd. XIE Carrie Capvision Partners (Shanghai) Co., Ltd. HSU Kun Capvision Partners (Shanghai) Co., Ltd. WANG Michelle Cargill Investments (China), Ltd. SEAH Chee Chiang CLS Communication (Shanghai) Co., Ltd. CAO David Cognizant Technology Solutions (Shanghai) Co., Ltd. FAN Shawn Cooper (China) Co., Ltd. TSE Oi Man Agnes WANG Tao Cooper Electric (Shanghai) Co., Ltd. WANG Tao Cooper Electronic Technologies (Shanghai) Co., Ltd. TSE Oi Man Agnes WANG Tao Corning China (Shanghai) Regional Headquarter QU Min DLA Piper UK LLP, Shanghai Rep. Office WANG Ying Dow Corning (China) Holding Co., Ltd. YANG Sophie Eaton (China) Investments Co., Ltd. XIAO Vivian

Emerson Process Management Power & Water Solutions (Shanghai) Co., Ltd. SHAO Changsong Federal-Mogul (China) Co., Ltd. JEFFERSON Paul Gensler Architecture Consulting (Shanghai) Co., Ltd. CHAO Edward Glen Raven Asia SUN Yu Johnson Controls (China) Investment Co., Ltd LIN Jeff JPMorgan Chase Bank (China) Company Limited Shanghai Branch CHAN Issac KPMG LIN Doreen L-Com (Suzhou) Electronic Co., Ltd. MEI Maggie Magna Automotive Technology and Service (Shanghai) Co., Ltd. O’BRIEN Frank Medtronic (Shanghai) Management Co., Ltd. SHEN Michelle Mortenson (Shanghai) CPMC, Ltd. WANG Elaine ZHANG Helen NNR Global Logistics (USA), Shanghai Rep. Office SULLIVAN Mac North Highland China Co., Ltd. COYLE Greg O’Melveny & Myers, LLP, Shanghai Office (USA) SHEN Xiajun SHI Sylvia WANG Stewart XU Jean Parker Hannifin Motion & Control (Shanghai) Co., Ltd. TAN Teresa Printpack (Suzhou) Packaging Co., Ltd. LI Fangfang LOH Max WU Xuanfei ZHU Qiang Qualcomm Wireless Semi Conductor Technologies Limited, Shanghai Branch Office ZHU Xiaodong Rogers Technologies (Suzhou) Co., Ltd. JIANG Ina Shanghai ACT Industrial Repair Services Co., Ltd. XIE Sherry Shanghai Hewlett-Packard Co., Ltd. ZHENG Helen Shanghai International Theme Park Company Ltd. KUSHABI Adam Shanghai SIP Engineering Consulting, Ltd. PUYBARET Florent

Do you want to share more information about your company? Contact Patsy Li at (86 21) 6279-7119 ext. 8966 or patsy.li@amcham-shanghai.org for a “Standout Listing” opportunity in the New Members Section.

AmCham Shanghai New Members Individual Int’l Affiliate Membership

Shaw Carpet (China) Co., Ltd. CHEN Susan

Huasong Capital Ltd. FREEMAN Barry

Smith & Nephew Medical (Suzhou) Limited LI Grace

Infinitas SA CALLIER Michael

The Shanghai Lincoln Electric Co., Ltd. HILL Kyle

Interfax LORE David

Thermo Fisher Scientific (China) Co., Ltd. ZHOU Hua

Kaiser Construction Co., Ltd. WALKUP James

Weber Shandwick Worldwide-Interpublic Marketing Services (Shanghai) Ltd. BOUWER Marco DEVANAYAGAM ANN Carolyn LEE Lei

Kaplan International, Washington Post LARSEN Stephen

Weldon BORRAS RIERA Elisabeth Winston & Strawn LLP, Shanghai Rep. Office LUO Laura

China Institute for Innovation MOLCHANOV Sergii Dongdu International Group Co., Ltd. WOOD Peter EyezChina Ltd CARDELLINI Gisella

N/A BATISTA Andres PENG Andy WOELM Sam

Genpact (Dalian) Co., Ltd. HUTCHISON Scott N/A FORTUNE James CHEN Robin The Eleventh Design & Research Institute, CEC CHEN Yan

O’Laughlin (Shanghai) Fine Chemicals Trading Company O’LAUGHLIN Michael

Individual U.S. Citizen Membership

Shanghai Redleaf Women’s Hospital OREJUDOS Christian YEH John

AllStar Technology Co. Limited CHU Philip

Sino/US Holdings, LLC BIRGER Michael

Asia Base Development Limited LIN Charlie

UniGroup Relocation DUELLO Chris

Blu Dot (SH), Ltd. BAKER Benjamin

Weihai Foreign Investment Promotion Center FINDLEY Hilary Wayne

Collective Responsibility BRUBAKER Richard

WorldPath Clinic International STONE Elyse

Zense Consulting Co., Ltd. TOWNSEND David Non-Resident Corporate Membership Paragon Vision Sciences, Inc. SICARI Joseph Non-Resident Individual Membership The Neu Group RICHARDSON Bryan

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AmCham Shanghai

Guests at the event U.S. Consul General in Shanghai Robert Griffiths delivers remarks at outgoing AmCham Shanghai President Brenda Foster’s farewell roast

Brenda Foster receives a hug from AmCham Shanghai Chair Bob Theleen

Outgoing President Brenda Foster looks on at the festivities

Members of the Manufacturers’ Business Council tour the Shanghai Hyster Forklift Ltd. factory

Month in Pictures

Panelists at the 2013 AmCham Shanghai Chinese Investment to the United States Conference Peggy Liu, chairperson of the Joint U.S.-China Collaboration on Clean Energy, delivers remarks

Tim Stratford, partner, Covington Burling LLP, presents on the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S.

Attendees at the Chinese Investment to the United States conference listen to panelists’ experiences with investment in the U.S.

An attendee poses a question

AmCham Shanghai members on a tour of the Port of Shanghai

Government Relations Members Tour Port of Shanghai AmCham Shanghai members on June 13 participated in a tour of the Port of Shanghai organized by the Shanghai International Port Group (SIPG). Chen Xuyuan, chairman of SIPG, and Yan Jun, vice president of SIPG, presented on SIPG’s operations, strategy and perspectives.

Keith Cole, vice president of Government Relations and Public Policy for General Motors International Operations, and Kae-Por Chang, managing director of EasyCargo, and Sun Feng, general manager of SIPG Logistics Co., Ltd., highlighted industry trends during a panel discussion, noting the need for efficient customs, clearance and quarantine institutions for U.S. business.

The group visited the SINOTRANS bonded warehouse, Intel’s warehouse operated by DHL, and the Waigaoqiao Bonded Zone Customs, where members were briefed on the layout of the complex, including future plans to construct a large-scale temperature-controlled warehouse. (Look for a feature article on the port in September’s Insight).

AmCham Shanghai members during a tour of Port of Shanghai

Business Delegation to Liaoning Province AmCham Shanghai Government Relations Director Steven Chan led a business delegation to Liaoning province from May 22–24 to explore investment opportunities and meet with provincial government officials and business leaders from Shenyang and Dalian.

In Shenyang, delegation members met Vice Mayor Huang Kai and participated in a conference with Liaoning officials from the Liaoning People’s Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries, the Liaoning Bureau of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation and the Liaoning Small and Medium Enterprise Bureau.

In Dalian, the delegation joined a roundtable with municipal government officials to discuss investment opportunities. Chan highlighted the importance of northeast China as a commercial center and growing destination for U.S. businesses. The delegation visited the Dalian Biodiverse Emerging Science Technology City, Lüshun Port and Dalian coast.

AmCham Shanghai Hosts First NGO Meets Enterprise Fair AmCham Shanghai held its first NGO Meets Enterprise Fair on June 20, featuring 16 NGOs and social enterprises. More than 60 company and nonprofit representatives attended the event, which showcased CSR programs and opportunities for partnership.

NGO exhibitors included the World Wildlife Fund, a leading organization committed to conserving nature; Heifer International, a nonprofit working to end hunger and poverty through gifts of livestock in western China; Stepping Stones, an English-teaching program for migrants and rural children in China; and Enactus China, an education program for university students to become socially responsible business leaders.

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Industry Leaders Discuss Food Safety Issues

A

mCham Shanghai’s Food, Agriculture and Beverage Committee hosted its annual China Food Safety and Sustainability Conference on May 30 at the Mandarin Oriental in Pudong. The event hosted many of the leaders shaping the Food, Agriculture and Beverage industry in China and allowed for open dialogue about the current state of food safety issues in China, the challenges that still exist and the achievements that have been made in recent years.

Keynote speaker Dr. Chen Jun Shi, senior researcher at the National Institute of Nutrition and Food Safety under the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, noted that China’s overall food safety is in a good state and is continuing to improve. He addressed some of the factors that are causing the negative dialogue about China’s food safety, including the small number of producers and their poor credibility, the lack of standardized production and the overall misunderstanding of food safety standards across many levels, from farmers to vendors to media to consumers.

He also discussed some of the nation’s achievements in the past few years, mainly the National Risk Assessment System, which was formed in 2009, and the National Surveillance System, which was formed in 2011. While these committees still have room for improvement, these are the first steps for the government’s farreaching goals of improving the state of food safety in China, he said.

Other speakers included experts in the area of consumer insights, professionals engaged in environmental protection and its impact on food safety and industry leaders in the area of agriculture and food service. Jae Chun, general manager for Asia at Chiquita Brands, noted the changing Chinese consumers and their motivations and expectations regarding food quality. As the wealth of Chinese consumers continues to grow, Chun said that their demands and needs for better food are increasing.

During the panels on Reducing Environmental Impact, representatives from Ecolab, PepsiCo and the World Wide Fund for Nature discussed improvements regarding water treatment in China. Panelists included Li Yong, director of Capability and Sustainability for Greater China at PepsiCo, Shunong Yang, vice president for Research and Development for Ecolab, and Wang Qian, senior program officer for the World Wide Fund for Nature.

In the last panel, some of the up-and-coming leaders from the farming and food service industry shared some of their experiences in growing, providing and serving safe food in China. The speakers included Xiong Chuanwu, senior operation manager from METRO/Star Farm; Li He, chairman of the Board of the Inner Mongolia Kerchin Beef Company; Scott Minoie, managing partner at Element Fresh; and Bian Jiang, assistant president of the China Cuisine Association.

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Committee highlights

i n s i d e amc h am

Legal Committee ABA President Leads Roundtable on U.S. and China Law and Policy AmCham Shanghai’s Legal Committee hosted American Bar Association (ABA) president Laurel Bellows for a roundtable on June 3. Bellows outlined the ABA’s key priorities, such as engaging in law and policy initiatives both in the U.S. and China. ABA initiatives include providing comparative information on the U.S. system to lawyers, judges and policymakers in China. The ABA is active not only in organizing high-level conferences on topics such as anti-trust and IP law, but also in advocacy on issues such as domestic violence, involuntary servitude and gender inequality. The ABA has been working with other U.S. government agencies on market access, one of the top issues facing legal professionals in China.

Laurel Bellows, center, with Daniel Yu, China country director at ABA Rule of Law Initiative, and Stefanie Myers, director of Committees

Bellows also highlighted the ABA’s policy work on the underfunding of the U.S. justice system, cyber-security, gender inequality antislavery and anti-trafficking, as well as finding more ways to engage lawyers in voluntary, pro bono work, including in China. One concern raised by attendees was the state of legal education and the job market for law school graduates in the United States.

Bellows described how the ABA has advocated with the Department of Labor to allow more flexible ways in which law students and recent graduates can obtain experience, as well as work that the ABA has carried out on reforming the structure of legal education.

Sourcing & Procurement Committee Talk on Procurement & Supply Chain Risks

David Simchi-Levi, professor at MIT and Shanghai Jiaotong University, presents case studies and scientific data on risks in the supply chain

AmCham Shanghai’s Sourcing & Procurement Committee welcomed Professor David Simchi-Levi of MIT and Shanghai Jiaotong University on May 28 as he addressed members on supply chain risk mitigation.

Using scientific data and case studies across various industries, SimchiLevi led a discussion on how companies can effectively manage procurement issues and supply chains. Simchi-Levi pointed out traditional methods for identifying risks to supply chains and how companies deal with these disruptions.

More often than not, companies do not fully understand the risks in their supply chains and cope by increasing inventory. Instead, says Simchi-Levi, by categorizing risks into “unknown, known, uncontrollable and controllable” categories, companies can begin to understand the true areas of concern and thereby invest in greater capacity and procurement flexibility. This “risk exposure index” analyzes the entire supply chain and gives a fiscal measure of estimated cost of risk, which takes into account the time it takes to return to full functionality after a disruption.

For more information on AmCham Shanghai’s 22 industry-specific committees, please contact committees@amcham-shanghai.org.

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Event highlights

i n s i d e amc h am

AmCham Shanghai Launches 2013 Orientation China Guidebook AmCham Shanghai launched the 2013 Orientation China Guidebook, which includes 19 chapters of practical advice from experts in addition to the latest China market research, updates on administrative regulations and tax procedures and useful case studies.The third edition will be available as an ebook from Apple’s iBook and Barnes & Noble’s Nook at a later date.

The launch event on June 6 featured chapter authors Kent Kedl of Control Risks, Kunal Sinha of Ogilvy & Mather and then-AmCham Panelists discuss points in the 2013 Orientation China Guidebook Shanghai Communications & Publications Director David Basmajian.

AmCham Shanghai survey data shows that 51 percent of SMEs had significant revenues from services in 2012, compared to 30 percent in manufacturing, which parallels the shift in the Chinese economy from one based on export-driven manufacturing to one based on services and consumption, said Basmajian.

Kedl described the compliance and internal fraud risks that face companies in China, and described how SMEs can be even more strongly affected by regulatory hurdles than larger companies. Sinha discussed opportunities for SMEs in growing consumer markets in cities outside the traditional markets of first-tier cities. Sinha gave examples of how SMEs often have strong niches for them in secondand third-tier cities due to different consumer profiles there.

During a panel discussion focused on SMEs, Chris Wingo of China Sage Consultants discussed the flexibility required to find the right partner in China, as well as the importance of integrity in potential business partners. AmCham Shanghai Vice President of Programs and Services Scott Williams discussed how the Chamber’s Virtual SME Center global platform is being created in response to inquiries from both members and SMEs in the U.S. for more ways to build their business.

AmCham Shanghai Member Jenny Theleen Receives Innovative Entrepreneur Award

AmCham Shanghai member Jenny Theleen shows her 2013 China Innovative Entrepreneurs Award at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing

On June 2, Jenny Theleen, president of ChinaVest, Ltd., a leading American investment and merchant bank, was honored as a 2013 recipient of “Best of China Innovative Entrepreneurs.” The awards were made to 100 individuals from a wide range of industries and companies at the 13th Annual China Innovation Forum Award Ceremony in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing. The award was established by the National Development and Reform Commission, China’s highest economic policy agency.

Theleen’s award was based on her more than 30 years of financial and investment innovation as a co-founder of ChinaVest, the first institutionally-funded American Venture Capital Fund in China, launched in 1981.

Her accomplishments as an active venture capitalist include launching some of the first companies from the U.S. in food distribution, IT technology, distribution and supply chain management and in China’s development of the South China Sea offshore petroleum industry.

Other recipients included the Chairman and CEOs of Sinopec, China Pharmaceutical Corporation and many other CEOS of both leading state-owned enterprises as well as individual entrepreneurs from China’s private sector.

Theleen is a member of AmCham Shanghai and her spouse, Bob Theleen, is the 2013 Chair of AmCham Shanghai.

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EXECUTIVE GETAWAY We asked executives what is their favorite weekend getaway near Shanghai.

Here are their top picks.

Brian Kapavik, Vice President, Environment, China, AECOM

Chris Wingo, Managing Director, China Sage Consultants

Getaways: Moganshan and Taiwan

Getaway: Xitang, Jing Yi Xuan Guesthouse

Remarks: “Seems that you have to go two or three hours by car, train or plane these days to truly get away from Shanghai. My family has Taroko Gorge in Taiwan really appreciated the peace and tranquility of Moganshan as we have been there a couple of times including this past Christmas and it actually snowed! I like to experience the relative ‘civility’ of Taiwan as compared with Shanghai and especially enjoy the beaches and water sports.”

Rem ar k s : “C h i na has many water towns though Xitang is nice since it is well-kept and only about 85 kilometers from Shanghai. Strolling around Xitang the 1,000-year old town’s covered walkways certainly affords one a feeling of mystique and tranquility. Small eateries offer up a variety of local dishes which hit the spot after a good walk. We enjoy visiting for the day or staying overnight in one of Xitang’s many hotel options.

Movie buffs may recognize Xitang as the place where parts of ‘Mission Impossible 3’ where filmed.”

Rudi von Meister, Head of NAVISTAR Corporation in China, President of Navistar Shanghai Trading Co., Ltd.

Alicia Kao, M.D., President and CEO, American Medical Center Getaway: The Amanfayun in Hangzhou’s West

Lake

Getaway: Nanjing Remarks: “Before I moved to Shanghai in 2011, I lived in Nanjing for f ive years, s o Nanjing is my recommendation as a getaway from Confucius Temple in Shanghai. It’s close. It’s got a lot Nanjing that Shanghai does not, such as its own Great (City) Wall that’s over 20 kilometers long; its own Ming Tombs; a mountain park (Zijin Shan); nearby hot springs; and a monumental bridge over the Yangtze decorated with revolutionary sculptures, and the preserved old town area which served as China’s capital during the Nationalist era.

“Also, Nanjing has many great restaurants including Huayuan Yihao near the Fuzi Miao (Confucius Temple) area, Zhang Shengji (a high-end chain restaurant which features regional Huaiyang food); numerous family restaurants serving Nanjing specialties, such as yanshuiji (salt-poached chicken). Fine foreign fare also, such as the Jinling Hotel’s Pacifica Restaurant for Italian food and the memorable Finnegan’s Wake Irish Bar, a home away from home.”

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Remarks: “It’s about two hours by train. This Aman resort is most special, situated next to Lingyin Temple and the West Lake.

It is quiet, peaceful, and no West Lake in Hangzhou crowds of people. Feelings of past centuries and lost heavens, a Shangri-La of peace and youth. Stay two nights in one of the suite cabins – it’s absolute serenity, nature and romance.”

Constantino Flores, VP Operations – Asia, Mission Foods Getaway: Shaoxing Hotel, Shaoxing Remarks: “Easy to get there in under two hours by high-speed train from Hongqiao Railway Station, Shaoxing has a nicely preserved historical downtown area where in addition to having plazas, alleys, bridges and waterways more beautiful than those in any water town closer to Shanghai, it also offers some really interesting attractions with historical and even literary value. Not a resort town where to kick back and relax under the sun, but it’s good enough to spend a quiet weekend.”