ScandAsia China April 2013 by Scandinavian Publishing Co., Ltd.

APR 2013

China

Urban planning art ScandAsia.dk

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Opinion

Growing Up Purple

am 23 but I always tell my friends that I have been around for only 6 years. My life, as I see it, started when I was 17 – on one rainy evening and I just arrived home from school. I was on the phone talking to my best (girl) friend about what we found most interesting – love, and she asked me for whom I had an eye for. The breeze and stormy clouds set the scene so perfectly; lonely and yet intriguing, that I felt it was a time to tell the truth. I confronted to her that ‘I am gay.’

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Please sign up for your own FREE copy: www.scandasia.com Publisher : 211 Soi Prasert Manukitch 29 Prasert Manukitch Road Chorakae Bua, Lad Prao Bangkok 10230, Thailand Tel. +66 2 943 7166-8, Fax: +66 2 943 7169 E-mail: news@scandasia.com Editor-in-Chief : Gregers A.W. Møller gregers@scandmedia.com Assistant Editor: Wachiraporn Janrut wachiraporn@scandmedia.com Advertising : Finn Balslev finn@scandmedia.com Piyanan Kalikanon piyanan@scandmedia.com

It wasn’t a big surprise for her though, since she had long hinted at my habits and my love for Mariah Carey and musical theatre, to know that I was different than the other guys. At that very moment, I felt like the great walls which I’ve caged myself into had finally tumbled down. For the first time, I found a home. Born into a middle-class family in a quiet provincial town in the South of Thailand, I have a loving mother and a gentleman father who both love me dearly. But for a long time, I wasn’t happy being around them. In fact, I was insecure being around, almost, anyone at all. Remember when you were growing up, your family, schools and society kept feeding you with certain kind of cultural contexts – the bad/black and the good/white – that you had to follow and admire and to distaste and dismiss. Oftentimes, they left out the gray area. I grew up not knowing that I was different. But the painted picture of the manly young country boys who were into sports and liked to play in the rice fields caused me much headache because I didn’t fit into any of those frames. I was too young to understand the mental complications that I had at the time, so I chose an easy way out by trying to be normal, well, straight. I played like the boys. I acted and talked like one. People, including my family, saw me like one. However, I always had an admiration for the fluttering boys with confident characters. The Thai society called them tood or kathoey – boys who love to act like girls. The words are negatively used, casting them as funny and overtly unnatural. But I didn’t want to be like girls so I tried to get away from that stereotype as much as possible. I hid my real confusing ‘self’ and sought escapism through many kinds of harmless entertainment: films, radio and TV. (It was a time when the Internet was pretty much irrelevant.) I became quieter, and didn’t want to share my stories with my family anymore. I felt so wrong all the time and life was but a series of repressive acts. At times, I blamed the place I lived in. Nothing satisfied me there. But as I got older, I learned that my condition was rather simple: I wasn’t being myself. And when you’re not yourself, there’s no chance that a healthy state of mind can be attained. That missing gray or gay area seems so little but can create a huge impact on one’s identity, especially during the adolescent years. It took a broader view of life, a help from the right people and immense courage to finally break the barriers down and be free. But society can play a role to help educate the young who feel a little bit different like I was and let them create the best version of themselves, regardless of genders or race. We need to bear in mind the gender choices in which children might – mentally – be inherited to in order to avoid leaving them suffered from not being who they are.

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Daily news and features here: www.scandasia.com

Sippachai Kunnuwong is a graduate from Thammasat University in Journalism. Before joining ScandAsia as a journalist, he was trained at the Bangkok Post and BBC World News in London.

Coming Events The 113th China Import and Export Fair Date: 15 April – 5 May 2013 Location: China Import and Export Fair Complex, Guangzhou The China Import and Export Fair (Canton Fair Spring April 2013) is a comprehensive international trading event to be held in three phases from 15 April to 5 May. The first phase will be held on 15 – 19 April, featuring Electronics & Household Electrical Appliances, Lighting Equipment, Vehicles & Spare Parts, Machinery Hardware & Tools, Building Materials, Chemical Products and International Pavilion. Phase two will take place on 23 – 27 April, featuring Consumer Goods, Gifts and Home Decorations products. And phase three on 1-5 May will feature Textiles & Garments, Shoes, Office Supplies, Cases & Bags, and Recreation Products, Medicines, Medical Devices, Health Products, Food, International Pavilion. Canton Fair, also renowned as the China Import and Export Fair, is held biannually in Guangzhou every spring and autumn, with a history of 55 years since 1957. For more information, visit www.cantonfair.org.cn

Swedish Chamber of Commerce Spring Party 2013 Date: 26 April 2013, 6.30 p.m. – 1.00 a.m. Location: Le Royal Meridien, Shanghai

Joint Nordic Luncheon Seminar

Mark your calendar for a fun night out with great Scandinavian food and entertainment at Swedish Chamber of Commerce Spring Party in Shanghai! Anna-Lena Brundin, a famous stand-up comedian, will be the host of the evening filled with The Honorary Award Ceremony, performances and surprises. The dinner party will take place right after the chamber’s annual general meeting. Interested people can pick up your tickets on the 8th or 9th of April at the Shanghai or Beijing offices. Prices are 750 RMB for member and 1500 RMB for non-member. For more information, visit www.swedishchamber.com.cn

Date: 23 April 2013, 11.30 a.m. – 1.30 p.m. Location: Sofitel Shanghai Hyland The Nordic Chambers have invited Ms. Cathy Huang, Founder and President of CBi China Bridge, to talk on the subject “Design Evolution in China & Design Thinking in Practice” at the Joint Nordic Luncheon seminar on 23 April. Trained as a designer, Cathy will share her personal observations on the evolution of the design industry and ecosystem in China over the past 20 years. She will also share her views on Insight Based Innovation, Design Thinking, and Design Strategy – her main areas of focus and the foundation that propelled her to be an honoree of the very first “China’s Women to Watch” and the Founder and President of CBi China Bridge, an insight-based innovation firm that helps world leading companies create profound customer experiences. Participation fee is 250 RMB for members and invitees and 600 RMB for non-members. Interested people are suggested to sign up at fbcs@fbcs.fi within19 April 2013.

DanCham Gala Ball in Beijing Date: 27 April 2013, 6.00 p.m. – 2.00 a.m. Location: InterContinental Hotel Beijing Beichen The Danish Chamber of Commerce in China will host its annual charity gala ball at InterContinental Hotel Beijing Beichen under the theme “Going to Hollywood”. This year’s event will support the kids of Sun Village, whose parents are incarcerated. The entertainers of the event will be famous Danish singer Rasmus Seebach while MC’s will be magician and comedian Rune Klan and TV host Felix Smith. For more information and ticket bookings, visit www.dccc.com.cn or email mail@dccc.com.cn

Norway – Asia Business Summit 2013 Date: 26 – 27 April 2013 Location: Jakarta, Indonesia Organised by Indonesia Norway Business Council (INBC) in collaboration with the Royal Norwegian Embassy and Innovation Norway, Norway – Asia Business Summit 2013 will be held in Jakarta, Indonesia on 26-27 April 2013. The summit will offer a platform for representatives from the Norwegian business communities in Asia and Norway to connect with each other, as well as to share and accumulate experience during the meetings and networking events. The topics to be discussed at the summit include: Changing Asia – Protectionism, New opportunities and changing trade patterns; Are Norwegian companies competitive in Asia?; Responsible business practices; Norway Inc – Where are we today and what’s our strategy? For more details on speakers, venue and registration, contact the INBC Secretariat, attention of Ms. Bente Toxopeus-Ekdahi at nabs@inbc.web.id April 2013 • ScandAsia.China 3

Past Events

DCC South China - Annual General Meeting

anish Chamber of Commerce South China (DCCSC) held its Annual General Meeting on 8 March 2013. Hosted by Maersk Container Industries in Dongguan, the full-day event included a company presentation and a guided factory tour at the premises of Maersk. The event was in presence of the General Consul Thomas H. Christensen from the Danish General Consulate in Guangzhou who discussed what the present changes in the China Government may mean to wholly foreign owned companies in China, and provided insights on how to build relationships with local authorities most effectively. In the evening, a dinner was held at Bongiorno Italian restaurant in Dongguan city. Members said goodbye to the following board members who are no longer represented in China: Camilla Cronjé, Kim Kirkegaard and Carsten Primdal while welcomed IngeLise Rønnow (Alfa Nordic in Guangzhou) and Jørgen Sobol (Linak in Shenzhen) who were voted to be board members. The board members voted to proceed their work included: Jens Engelbrecht Mortensen, Jan Lægaard Broni, Henrik Ankjær, Christian Schjerbeck and Michael Schjerbeck.Thomas H. Christensen (Consul General) and Henrik Larsen (former chairman) will proceed as Honorary Members. The Board will appoint the various positions in the Board at the first coming board meeting and an announcement will be made public after that. Until then, the positions are as you know them. The present Office Manager, Bettina Vilhof Laub, has resigned and will go back to Denmark soon. Since she has informed the DCC a long time ago, the replacement has already been found. Celine Westerberg will become new Office Manager from the end of March. The approved financial statements including an audit result were conducted by Maersk Container Industries. The DCC thanked for Maersk’s support on this. Next year’s AGM will be held on 14 March 2014.

Swedish Chamber of Commerce in Shanghai - Awareness on social media

n 27 February 2013, the Swedish Chamber of Commerce in Shanghai invited its members to a morning meeting on the subject “Awareness on social media, a study about potential loss of personal and corporate information”. The meeting was filled with nerve wrecking examples, as Mr. Lars-Åke Severin from PSU gave an interesting lecture about how the information that we share on social media and that are accessible on internet can be misused. He also explained how OSINT (Open Sources Intelligence) can be used to put together information with the target to approach individuals with critical corporate positions and get access to vital information. 4 ScandAsia.China • April 2013

Past Events

Nordic Light Quartet on a four city tour

ponsored by the Consulate General of Sweden in Hong Kong, Nordic Light Quartet recently held concerts in China, Macau and Hong Kong. Nordic Light Quartet was founded by award- winning Swedish bassist and composer Rickard Malmsten. The group also consists of Sweden’s most promising jazz artists, Magnus Lindgren (saxophone), Erik Söderlind (guitar) and American Drummer Jack Greminger. After a big success in China, Nordic Light Quartet has been invited to perform at festivals in Europe, Baltic States and Asia.

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April 2013 • ScandAsia.China 5

Past Events

Swedish crime novelist Håkan Nesser visits China

wedish crime novelist Håkan Nesser visited China on 15 – 18 March 2013. On the evening of 15 March, the Swedish Chamber of Commerce invited book loving members to meet with Håkan Nesser and mingle at the Consul General’s residence on Xiangshan Road in Shanghai. Håkan Nesser is a famous Swedish author of mainly crime stories with 25 published books, which are translated to numerous languages. He has won several literary awards, including The Scandinavian Glass Key and The European Crime Star Award. Born in Kumla, Sweden, he has lived in New York and London and recently moved back to Sweden, where he lives in Stockholm on the island of Gotland in the Baltic Sea.

Danish Consulate General in Shanghai hosts press event

n 5 March 2013, the Danish Consulate General in Shanghai held the event “Get to know Denmark”, aiming to introduce Denmark to Chinese journalists at the Consul General’s residence in Shanghai. The event gave Chinese journalists an opportunity to learn more about Denmark, the Danish foreign ministry’s work in China, and why the Nordic countries are becoming the new supermodel for transparent and clean governance. The event gathered 20 Chinese journalists from a wide variety of media including Xinhua, People’s Daily, 21st Century Business Herald, Xinmin Evening Paper, China Construction Times, Wen Hui Daily, Modern Weekly, Domus China and Inculture.

Sommerskole på Herlufsholm - for piger og drenge i alderen 13-15 år

FRA 19. JULI TIL 2. AUGUST 2013 Tilbring 2 sjove og spændende uger i sommerferien på Danmarks ældste kostskole i selskab med 13-15 årige fra hele verden. Programmet byder på niveauinddelt dansk undervisning, sportslige og kreative aktiviteter samt ekskursioner og oplevelser. Lær om Danmark, mød nye venner og nyd de enestående historiske og smukke rammer som Herlufsholm Skole kan tilbyde.

LÆS MERE PÅ WWW.HERLUFSHOLM.DK 6 ScandAsia.China • April 2013

HERLUFSHOLM SKOLE OG GODS HERLUFSHOLM ALLÉ 170 REKTORKONTOR@HERLUFSHOLM.DK TLF. +45 55 75 35 00

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Past Events

Breakfast with Swedish Consul General Viktoria Li

n 31 January 2013, the Swedish Chamber of Commerce facilitated a round table breakfast discussion between Viktoria Li, the Consul General in Shanghai and representatives from Swedish Corporations in China. The discussion centered on what we may expect from the new Chinese political leadership. The discussion also covered how Sweden is preparing to meet upcoming economic challenges and what the Consulate General can do for Swedish companies and Swedish interests in this region.

Scandi Village DK.pdf 1 3/10/2555 17:01:07

April 2013 â&#x20AC;˘ ScandAsia.China 7

News Brief

Dane reinvents Chinese shoes

Danish Lego builds first factory in China

anish toy maker Lego said on 18 February that it plans to build its first factory in China next year to support its sales in fast-growing Asian markets. Lego, the world’s third-largest manufacturer of play materials, said in a statement that construction will begin in early 2014 in the city of Jiaxing. Lego did not specify exactly how much it would invest but said it would be a “3 digit million euro figure.” The plant would have about 2,000 employees once it is fully operational in 2017. Last month the company announced that they were laying off 380 employees in Denmark. “Asia – including China – is a future core market for the Lego Group and therefore I am excited to share our plans for the new factory,” Chief Operations Officer Bali Padda said in the statement. The Lego Group does not operate its own manufacturing facility in China currently but expects the new factory to supply approximately 70 to 80 per cent of all Lego products sold in the region in 2017. Lego Group sales in Asia have grown by more than 50 per cent annually in recent years. Lego currently has factories in Denmark, Hungary, Czech Republic and Mexico. The company reported in February that its sales rose to DKK 23.4 billion last year from DKK 18.7 billion in 2011, despite an economic slowdown that has hurt rivals Mattel (MAT.O) and Hasbro (HAS.O). Last year, Lego extended its deal with American filmmaker George Lucas to manufacture models related to the Star Wars saga, including space ships and miniature figures. The Lego group was founded in 1932 by Ole Kirk Kristiansen and has passed from father to son. It is now owned by Kjeld Kirk Kristiansen, a grandchild of the founder.

anish produced Chinese shoes are a hit. Ulla Hentze has taken the traditional Gong Fu shoe, also known simply as “China shoes”, and given it a Scandinavian design. It has turned out to be a great business idea and the shoes have sold well both in Scandinavia and Asia. Ulla Christensen Hentze is the owner of Copenhagen based ShoeShoe Company. The company also has its own factory in China which produces 25,000 pairs of shoes a year. Like many others, she was looking to tap into the Chinese market but marketing and sales were difficult to handle in China’s vast market. Therefore, she started a partnership with a Marketing bureau in Shanghai – Schultz Knudsen – who could be in charge of sales and marketing while she focused on design and production. The Scandinavian designed Gong Fu shoes turned out to be extremely popular, especially among university students, so the Shanghai bureau decided to hold an event to promote the brand at Shanghai Jiatong University. In June 2012 they created a design competition where the winner’s design was put in production. The event exceeded all expectations as there were 6,000 people entered the competition and publicity was big both online and in traditional media which hyped the shoes even further. “It has only been a few months since I went online with my Chinese shop but I have already sold so much that the expenses for my marketing in China are covered,” says Ulla Hentze to Danish paper Boersen.

Svensk tv - nu utan parabol i Asien - dygnet runt via IPTV! Du får de flesta svenskproducerade programmen från Sveriges Television, ca 40 kanaler från Sveriges Radio och en del tilläggstjänster - direkt till din tv! Signalen kommer via internet - ej via parabol eller kabel - uppkoppling på minst 2 Mbit/s rekommenderas. Den nya hybridboxen köper du förmånligast under sommarens besök i Sverige. Mer info hittar du på: svt.se/svtworld Abonnemang tecknas via: www.connova.se 8 ScandAsia.China • April 2013

News Brief

The Presidium of the Danish Parliament visits China

Swedish food gains popularity in China

wedish food can break new grounds in China as the middle-class Chinese is growing and the consumers’ behavior is changing, said a Swedish sourcing company based in China. “A growing proportion of the Chinese middle class is starting to look at imported food to satisfy their concerns,” stated in a report from Scandic Foods Asia. “Swedish food, free from antibiotics and Salmonella, is an attractive choice for health-conscious Chinese consumers.” Chinese people also associate the food with a status symbol. Expensive, modern, clean and safe, according to the report, are some of traits associated with Swedish food.

Speaker of the Presidium, Mr. Mogens Lykketoft (left), together with Speaker of the State Parliament of Mongolia, Mr. Zandaakhu Enkhbold (right).

he Presidium of the Danish Parliament paid an official visit to Mongolia on 2-6 March 2013. The Speaker of the Presidium, Mr. Mogens Lykketoft as well as the deputy speakers, Mr. Bertel Haarder, Ms. Pia Kjaersgaard, Ms. Camilla Hersom and Ms. Anne Baastrup participated in the trip. After the visit to Mongolia, the Presidium stopped in Beijing on 6 March to have a meeting with the Vice-minister of International Department of the Chinese Communist Party, Mr. Liu Jieyi, as well as Mr. Song Tao, Vice-minister in the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs with responsibility for European affairs. The Speaker of the Presidium, Mr. Lykketoft, held a press conference for Danish press in Beijing telling of the Presidium’s activities in Mongolia and China. The Presidium also had consultations with Chinese scholars and civil society representatives on China’s civil society and human rights.

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‘Changing behavior’ “The Chinese market may seem difficult to get into, but the rewards for those who succeed are the greater. The possibilities here are on a completely different scale,” said Per Lindén, CEO at Scandic Foods Asia. The company has successfully established itself in the Chinese food market. The company has been analyzing how the Chinese consumers’ buying habits are changing. “In China, food security is highly valued and the consumers are preparing to pay more for imported quality products,” said Linden. These purchasing trends have not gone unnoticed by Swedish industry: last year China’s Agriculture Minister He Changfu and Swedish Agriculture Minister Eskil Erlandsson signed a new trade agreement to boost Swedish exports to China. The deal is to develop trade between Sweden and China and deepen cooperation in research, food technology and animal husbandry. “Swedish food has great potential to sell in China. The middle class is growing and they demand high quality, healthy and safe products,” said Erlandsson. The potential is great for Swedish exports. China’s middle class is expected to grow to 340 million people by 2016.

Bagsværd kostskole & gymnasium (Bk) er en udviklingsorienteret og traditionsrig skole grundlagt i 1908. elever, der vælger en uddannelse hos os, siger ja til fællesskab, faglighed, seriøsitet og individuel talentudvikling. det vi på Bagsværd kostskole & gymnasium kalder for: tid til talent. vi tilbyder: • • • • • • •

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April 2013 • ScandAsia.China 9

News Brief

Chinese and Norwegian diplomats meet to restore relations Online interest in the Danish Royal Family from the Chinese

he official website of the Danish royal family was launched in Chinese six months ago when Hu Jintao visited Denmark. It was the initiative of marketing bureau Schultz Knudsen who approached the Danish court and offered to do the Chinese version of the site. Since then, it has been very popular especially during events like the visit of Hu Jintao in Denmark and most recently when the Danish Crown Prince was on state visit in China. “We saw the visit from Hu Jintao as an excellent opportunity to launch a site in Chinese so that the people of China could follow the President’s visit to the country of H.C. Andersen. There are a lot of ties between the big and the small nation and we have seen a big interest in the Chinese version since it first went up in June last year,” Lene Balleby who is head of communications at the court explains. “Both we and the embassy in Beijing have been pleased with the Chinese site. When there were royal visits in China, we could link in our press material. So with few resources we have managed to reach a wider group than what would have been possible with traditional media,” she adds.

elations between Norway and China have been shaky after the Norwegian Nobel Committee awarded the prize to an incarcerated Chinese man Liu Xiaobo. China reacted strongly, saying that relations between their two countries had been damaged. A deal was made with several European countries that made it possible for citizens to travel to Shanghai without applying for a visa in advance. Norway was no included in that deal. “Some countries are not qualified because they have a people or a government of low quality and that act poorly,” was the comment from a Chinese official at the time. During a review of foreign policy in the Norwegian Parliament on 12 February, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Espen Barth Eide, said that they were experiencing progress with the Chinese. On 14 February, the Norwegian paper Aftenposten writes that diplomats from the two countries have been meeting in secret to work on the relations. Prominent diplomats with mandates from highest authorities in Norway and China have been meeting on a regular basis since early summer last year. The aim has been finding a way past the difficult situation. Minister of Foreign Affairs, Espen Barth Eide, will not go in details about who are at the meetings or where they take place, but Aftenposten writes that ambassador to Norway, Zhao Jun, is leading the negotiations on behalf of China. Eide also says that the meetings are not taking place in a third country. He says that the meetings are very concrete and that many of the conversations are about showing respect and respecting each other’s values.

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10 ScandAsia.China • April 2013

News Brief

Andersen Garden by Schmidt hHmmer Lassen Architects

Danish architects are in high demand in China

number of Danish architect firms have won competitions in China and are now realizing big projects. Bjarke Ingels and his international architectural company BIG, for example, designed a 500 meter high tower to be built in the port city of Tianjin near Beijing. In southern China, Henning Larsen Architects are working on the construction of Foshan Cultural Center. Also lesser-known architects have gained a solid foothold in China. KPF Architects are now drawing up a master plan for an entire district of Chongqing in western China – and as they say from the headquarters in Viborg. “When the entire project is budgeted at just less than 10 billion DKK, a few of those millions might as well go to us.” In Viborg, the architects know that you have to find Chinese partners to be near the main project planning – thus making more money. The Council of Exports in China are eager to help promote this process. It has launched several initiatives to get more Danish architects and construction companies enter the Chinese market. “We would like to help more small and medium-sized enterprises. Consequently, we plan in the spring to hold a conference in Copenhagen

for both architects and engineering firms, where a number of speakers tell about their experiences,” says Jesper Bech Andersen, team leader for architecture and construction at the Consulate General in Shanghai.

This fall Jesper says he will invite Danish architects and engineering firms to Shanghai to hold lectures on Danish architecture and building tradition at Tongji University. At the same time, he plans to match the

Danish participants with local architectural firms so that the Danish firms gain a greater understanding of the rules of the game in the Chinese construction market. Jesper hopes to increase exports in the sector.

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April 2013 • ScandAsia.China 11

News Brief

B&O partner to open 50 ‘Play’ stores in China

anish luxury stereo and television maker Bang & Olufsen said in the end of January it had signed a deal with Chinese partner Sparkle Roll to open more than 50 new stores in the country. It said Sparkle Roll would operate three Bang & Olufsen stores in three cities and more than 50 smaller stores across the country dedicated to its lower-priced “Play” products. The aim of the smaller “Play” stores was to create brand awareness of Bang & Olufsen and drive customers to Bang & Olufsen stores selling its more expensive products. The company’s top-of-the-range offering is the 103-inch BeoVision4 TV costing around 100,000 euros ($134,600). “These steps are part of our overall strategy for China, that we want to do significantly better in the country,” said Chief Executive Tue Mantoni. “Today’s deal is a step in the right direction.” B&O generates about 3 percent of its revenue in China and wants that to rise to between 20 and 30 percent within two to three years.

China soon to replace Germany as H&M’s largest market

hina is set to overtake Germany as the largest market for Hennes & Mauritz (H&M), the world’s second-largest apparel retailer, a fashion website reports. It is because the pace of new store opening by H&M in China is faster than in any other country, Karl-Johan Persson, CEO of the Swedish company, said in a recent interview, Bloomberg reported. In 2012, H&M opened 52 outlets in China, compared to 22 stores in Germany, taking the tally of H&M stores in Germany to 406. Mr. Presson said while China’s economy is growing rapidly, Europe is passing through a difficult economic situation, which has impacted private consumption and spending. The demand for clothing in Europe has declined and H&M’s sales have been seriously impacted in Germany, Greece, Spain, Portugal, the Netherlands, Switzerland and Italy, he said. H&M is mulling on opening stores in Argentina, Brazil, Colombia and India, while the European demand recovers, he added.

(c)Nelson Ching/Bloomberg News

A shopper walks past an advertisement for an upcoming Hennes & Mauritz (H&M) AB store in Beijing, China.

Swedish island Gotland working on partnership with Chinese island Hainan Gotland

12 ScandAsia.China • April 2013

wedish island Gotland, situated 90 kilometers from the coast of Sweden, is working on an unusual relationship with the possible future partner, Chinese Island Hainan. The two islands are worlds away from each other and those differences are the cause of mutual interest. Ten times bigger than Gotland, Hainan is home to almost 9 million people. While Gotland sees this as an opportunity for more tourism, imports, and exchange in workforce, Hainan wants more western tourists, western personnel and more companies and visitors at the annual agricultural fair. “They really want to partner with us. But it takes a bit time and a culture is different there,” says Sven Sandström from Product Gotland. Product Gotland has several cooperation plans for the two partners. It all started when a delegation from Gotland of 40 people visited the Chinese island in March last year. The visits have been repeated since then and a “treaty of friendship” was signed.

Urban

14 ScandAsia.China â&#x20AC;˘ April 2013

n planning art Swedish city planner Pontus Boden at Atkins Global in Beijing talks about urban planning in China By Alexandra Leyton

You can’t build a city quickly, it has to evolve. The accidents last year caused by severe floods could have been avoided if companies had put more emphasizes on urban planning for a real city.

tate control on urban planning and development in China is rapidly diminishing after economic reforms in 1978. With the development in China’s economy and increase in foreign investments, the state and centrally-planned economy have less significant role to play in influencing the development of urban landscapes. For over two years, Swedish city planner Pontus Boden at Atkins Global has seen the urban planning development in China at first hand. “Even if the government doesn’t sell as much land as it used too, in an attempt to control the housing bubble, the market is still performing better than in Europe,” Boden says. The small city of Karlskrona, with its 35,000 thousand citizens, wasn’t an option when Boden graduated after studying Spatial Planning at Bleaching Institute of Technology. Instead he had set his eyes on a cosmopolitan metropolis, Beijing. “For me, China was an unexplored place. It is exciting to just stroll around and experience Chinese street life. In smaller cities in Sweden I don’t feel we have the right components for a good social life, there are too many limits. You don’t have the fundamentals of a bigger city like pubs and restaurants. We miss the active life and I wanted to be a part of that scene in China. For city planners in Sweden, unfortunately, there are not many jobs in the bigger cities,” Boden says. “Once I arrived in China, my first thought was, where have I been when all this happened? I believe that had to do with the media image we have in Europe about China. You believe it will be very traditional or with a closed communist heritage. We tend to forget how modern the big cities actually are.” Boden works for a British firm which develops urban planning for various projects, districts, housing states and tourist areas, ranging from a few hectares to thousands

of square kilometers for Chinese companies. Still, the firm - like many other western firms in this genre in China - is only hired to come up with new ideas. They often don’t have all the certificates required to produce drawings and tend to be more expensive than local firms. “A local firm will often take over, and finish the job. The biggest challenge for a western architecture firm is to either think about the firm’s reputation or just take the money and do what you are told to do. The most frustrating aspect about this is that most of the decision makers in the projects don’t have a clue about urban planning. They tell us to draw a residential area that is not supportive for local needs or culture. Still they only see the return on investment by selling the properties. If you insist on building something sustainable for the future it affects your relationship with a customer, so we usually do as we are told,” Boden says. According to Boden, sustainable urban development is a big challenge facing China. Building can change a landscape and hence change people’s way of life. It is critical to cultivate city life and integrate the land with structures. “Unfortunately, most companies are only interested in profit, generally said, they want to maximize the housing bubble. Chinese home buyers have been accumulating houses for years, mainly because they have few options for safely stashing their savings. But we do have Chinese company owners that are interested in the community that will reside in these areas and care about their living conditions,” Boden says. What matters is a beautiful set of pictures and a vision that the companies can sell to the state in order to buy land. “A substantial amount of our time is about creating something beautiful for the eye, when in fact many times it’s not sustainable. In China it’s about pretty pictures to

sell for not only to the state but also house buyers. A lot of properties in China are sold by how they will look, even before the constructions start. In Sweden projects are developed from concept to final build, and we develop ways to maximize the use of areas, parking lots, child friendly areas, narrow streets, drain systems that work. In China this is not a part of the process until the very end,” Boden says. “You can’t build a city quickly, it has to evolve. The accidents last year caused by severe floods could have been avoided if companies had put more emphasizes on urban planning for a real city,” he adds. Quality assurance is, according to Boden, not a natural part of urban planning in China. And constructive criticism or feedback is never a part of the planning stage. “We don’t follow up and talk through the different steps in the planning. Most of the time the owners of the property have all the power in decisions and even if we planners are the people who are educated on the subject, our professional opinion is not always taken in consideration. It’s more important that the owner doesn’t lose face,” Boden says. “We do come across rich people who come from provinces outside the city, have made a fortune in Cole mining and want to invest in property without a clue about how it actually works.” However, to a cadre of western urban planners, developers and architects, China represents the ultimate market. “China is still a very interesting place to be working. The scalable projects you get here don’t exist in Sweden. As a westerner you see the potential and you want to be a part of a developing ecosystem. You also get extensive freedom since regulations are less restrictive than in Europe and decisions are made quicker,” Boden says.

April 2013 • ScandAsia.China 15

Education in m

Morten Laugesen holds a BA in economics and a MA and PhD-degree in Chinese from Aarhus University 16 ScandAsia.China â&#x20AC;˘ April 2013

mixed cultures Sino-Danish Center for Education and Research (SDC) promotes and strengthens collaboration between Danish and Chinese universities. By Mikkel Keldorf

n September last year, 48 Danish students went to Beijing as the first group of Danish University students studying at Sino-Danish Center for Education and Research (SDC). The centre is a collaboration between eight Danish universities, the Danish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Higher Education, the University of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (UCAS) and the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS). Head of the SDC Secretariat in Aarhus, Morten Laugesen, shared with ScandAsia his experiences from the first semester ever at SDC. The project is up and running, but it has been hard work getting to this point and a lot of adjustments still need to be done, he says. “In a collaboration like the SDC, it is important that the partners take responsibility for the project in order to overcome the start-up challenges that inevitably appear,” says Morten. “The Danish universities have shown a great interest in the project and invested many resources so far. I hope that UCAS will live up to its responsibility and invest more human capital in the project as it develops in the future,” he adds.

Culture as a part of the education China’s increasing power on the world market has motivated the Danish government, the Danish industry and the Danish universities to bring students even closer to the culture that is predicted to become more and more dominating in the years to come. The idea behind SDC first started in 2008. Since then a lot of top-level negotiations have led to the beginning of the first SDC semester. Today SDC offers 4 different Master’s programs: Public Management and Social Development; Water and Environment; Neuroscience and Neuroimaging; and Innovation Management. Johannes Vørts, Communication Manager at SDC, is dealing with the everyday communication with the Danish students. His impression from talking to the Danish students is that they chose to join the programs for various reasons depending on programs they take. “The Social Science students study culture, so obviously they want to get a close up experience with the Chinese culture. The Water and Environment students on the other hand can get a unique view of the actual problems in China e.g. they can go see the polluted lakes and rivers. Regarding the Neuroscience students, the program we offer is only available here in Beijing, and not in Denmark,” says Johannes Vørts.

Danish students want to participate Arriving in China in itself can be a big culture chock for Westerners. But getting in a classroom with Chinese students and professors also contributes to this experience. SDC has both Danish and Chinese students and professors in its programs and according to Morten this is a big challenge. First of all Danish and Chinese students have been trained differently during their educational years. Secondly, the Chinese students are not used to classes taught in English, which generates some difficulties working with the English academic terms. Furthermore, the study culture is very different in China compared to Denmark. “In China the students do not ask questions to the teacher whereas in Denmark it is an important part of the education. This is causing some confusion during the classes because Danish students do not mind interrupting the professor whereas the Chinese students on the other hand are mostly quiet. Also, working in groups is very common in Denmark, but UCAS do not even have rooms for that,” Morten explains. Differing views on planning horizons is also something SDC is dealing with on everyday basis. Usually Chinese people do not solve problems before they appear. E.g. when arranging a field trip, it is common not to think about the transportation before the day of departure.

Despite the startup difficulties and cultural differences, it seems like the most important part in this setup – students – are generally satisfied with the program. What Beijing has to offer especially the culture, brings a smile to the faces of the Danish students.

Positive replies from the students Despite the startup difficulties and cultural differences, it seems like the most important part in this setup – students – are generally satisfied with the program. According to Johannes, what Beijing has to offer especially the culture, brings a smile to the faces of the Danish students. “They have been very active and have spent a lot of time together. This is very usual in China because people go out all the time, so this is an important part of studying at SDC,” says Johannes. In the future SDC’s educational activities are planned to take place in a separate building funded by the Danish Industry Foundation. The facilities in the new building will include classrooms, group rooms, offices for faculty, administration and a number of apartments for Danish teachers who come to Beijing to teach there.

For more information, visit www.sinodanishcenter.com

Johannes Vørts holds a MA degree in Media Studies and a BA in Multimedia and Media Studies April 2013 • ScandAsia.China 17

The impacts of multilingualism By Frazer Cairns, Head of UWCSEA Dover Campus

Author biography

Frazer Cairns started his career as a management consultant and journalist after graduating from the University of York in the UK. He retrained as a science teacher and subsequently taught in the UK, Indonesia and Switzerland. He is currently the Head of UWCSEA Dover Campus.

Gajo, L., (2007) Linguistic Knowledge and Subject Knowledge: How Does Bilingualism Contribute to Subject Development? The International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism 10(5) pp 563 – 581

espite multilingual education dating back to the ancient world in a variety of different cultures, multilingualism was seenuntil relatively recently by many education researchers as an exceptional, even hazardous, phenomenon. Trying to learn through a language other than the language spoken at home (for example learning science in English rather than Danish) was cited as the root of a number of difficulties: cognitive overload, semi-lingualism and language confusion to name but three. Learning through more than one language was, essentially, bad for you. This point of view obviously has profound implications for international schools, where a potentially large proportion of the community is learning through a language other than their home language. It is not at all unusual for parents sending their children to a school where English is the working language to worry that speaking their home language with their children will at best impede their progress in English and at worst confuse them so that they end up speaking no first language. Thankfully, modern educational research now sees multilingualism as a potential asset that provides learners with a strategic (and significant) advantage rather than as a cause for concern. As one might perhaps expect, speakers of multiple languages learn further languages more easily—they seem to have a higher metalinguistic awareness (in other words, they show a better understanding of the nature of linguistic structures) and a more analytical approach towards the social and pragmatic functions of language. However, more interestingly, research has suggested that a ‘uniqueness’ exists in the development of multilingual students when compared to their monolingual peers. Empirical research has shown that multilinguals ‘know things’ that transcend the purely linguistic level according to Laurent Gajo1, a professor at the University of Geneva. In Gajo’s view of learning, the different languages interact and combine to generate, not the simple addition of distinct competences (i.e., not just two monolingual halves welded together), but rather an original, individual, complex competence on which the user may draw. Speaking multiple languages, it seems, makes you better not just at other languages, but also potentially more creative and better at mathematics, science or history. It is important to say that learning through a language other than your home language is not an easy option or one that will yield instant results. Though

many children attain basic communicative competence in a language relatively quickly, the more specific language demanded in an educational setting takes longer to acquire; most students will, in fact, initially see a drop in their overall performance as they try to adjust. Much will also depend on personal factors such as motivation, the child’s communicative needs and levels of anxiety. However, in the medium term, the drop is usually compensated for and a multilingual child usually regains their age-appropriate progress. Often times they surpass their monolingual peers. Going back to the worried parent, should you, then, speak to your child in English at home if it is not their mother language? The research is clear - no. For a child learning in a second language it is vital to maintain their mother tongue. Skills acquired in the first language can be transferred to the second language so, for example, if your child has developed good reading skills in French or Korean, she is likely to be able to apply these skills when reading English. (One useful transferable reading skill is the ability to guess the meaning of unfamiliar words from context.) Similarly, the skills of being able to plan out a piece of writing or develop an argument in a persuasive essay can be applied in the second language once they have been learned in the first. Many children in international schools plan to return to their home country at some point to continue their education. Students who neglect their mother tongue can often suffer from problems of identity loss or distance from their parents, and from other family members in their home country. Both of these are strong reasons to make sure they do not have gaps in their mother tongue. Educational research has generated its fair share of false conclusions—playing Bach to your children and having potted plants in the classroom does not necessarily make them better at maths despite the claims made in some studies. It is important to recognise that the range of factors that go together to generate the positive consequences of multilingualism are not as yet fully understood, and that much will depend on the personal factors mentioned above. The choices of the institution (for instance, its language curricula and its teaching methodology) will also have a critical influence on a learner’s willingness, or reluctance, to transfer resources from one context into another. However, what is clear is the importance of the strategic and transferable skills that multilingualism can bring to children as they face a complex and rapidly changing world.

Life after Dam

Norway’s contribution to Laos’ hydropower Long before a USD 650 million hydropower project in Laos began operating in January, thousands of low-land Lao and ethnic minorities had to relocate their homes to new given villages. But can they attain a sustainable future after the change of location? By Sippachai Kunnuwong

20 ScandAsia.China • April 2013

(C)THPC/Jim Holmes

Moving out On January 19, 2013, the USD 650 million ThuenHinboun Expansion Project was inaugurated in Borikhamxay and Khammuan provinces, 5 hours south of Vientiane, the Lao capital. The ceremony was marked by the company’s shareholders – energy key players from Laos, Thailand and Norway – along with Lao prominent politicians. The new hydropower plant was the second mega project the Thuen-Hinboun Power Company (THPC) has carried out in Laos and an expansion of the first-ever cooperation between its government and foreign investors since the cold war. Just days after the launch, an activist group International Rivers published a report painting an intriguing back side of the event that had not garnered a similar attention from the media. “The project has displaced over 7,500 people and will affect the livelihoods of tens of thousands more people living downstream,” says Tania Lee, International Rivers’ Lao coordinator in a report from her visit to the affected area in Laos over the past year. The new project has twice the capacity of the first plant and will, according to Lee, “double the amount of water being diverted into the Hai and Hinboun Rivers, causing extensive flooding and other impacts.” Its biggest footprint went directly to the people. 4358 persons from 760 households had to move out of their old homes to resettlement villages, provided by the company. They were, however, provided with full compensation of housing, money, electricity, community facilities and necessary goods. A further 4436 persons living along the downstream of the power station who faced extensive flood water were relocated and given compensated budget and other needs.

Also, approximately 4500 persons downstream will be relocated in the next four years. The overall number of resettled and relocated persons is a little over 13,000 when all is completed. “THPC – which is partly-owned by the Norwegian state-owned company Statkraft – is profiting at the expense of some of Southeast Asia’s poorest people,” Lee said in an interview with a local Thai newspaper.

Laos’ economic tipping point To really examine the costs and benefits of such a project that has run for over a decade, what impact it has created, it helps to go back in time. From the 1970s to mid-90s, Laos’ economy had remained silent and struggling. “Back then, the country was so poor and isolated. Only 5 percent of its people had access to electricity,” says Aiden Glendinning, THPC’s communication advisor. “The only money the government received from abroad was the fees from the airline companies when their aircrafts flew across its territory.” The Thuen-Hinboun Power Plant, THPC’s first project, operated since 1998, was the first major industrial project in Laos in 30 years. The project was deemed as a tipping point for Lao economy as ninety-five percent of its produced power are being exported to Thailand under a long-term contract, ten percent sold to Laos.

(C)THPC

olourfully dressed women of all ages rush around the compound like they are preparing a feast of sorts. The crinkling sound of plates and forks tells of a meal being prepared. One lady serves papaya salad on a table full of mouth-watering delicacies – all Lao favorites. A middle-aged lady from Vientiane is there this afternoon to teach the female villagers - who all come from different tribes - how to process Som Pa, or smelly sour/pickled fish. The women recently formed the Women’s Union and Som Pa is a way to add product-value to the growing number of fish caught near the village, as well as to preserve them. “You wanna try?,” the trainer asks one villager. She nods. They swop places and an amateur fish cutting session begins. This would be unthinkable only two years ago: In one kitchen various ethnic minorities joined together with low-land Lao - the mainstream culture - in a communal environment. The mountaineers used to live in isolation, uphill or along the river and relied on wild food and husbandry. There were little need for money, no access to electricity, and almost no connection to the outside world. All this changed with the mega hydropower project that washed away their traditional livelihoods. Everything, for better or worse.

The Thuen-Hinboun Expansion Project in full operation since January 2013 “We bring hard currency to Laos. We pay profit taxes, dividends, royalties and the Lao shareholder is sixty percent. 98-99 percent of our staff are Lao nationals,” says Robert Allen, THPC’s general manager. So far the company, shared by state-owned Electricite du Laos, Statkraft of Norway and Thailand’s GMS Power has contributed more than USD 300 million to the country’s state finance. And with the operation of a new dam, the production capacity will double from 220 MW to 500 MW: an estimation of USD 35 million is expected to be injected into Lao, annually.

Statkraft in Laos Not only an iconic facelift for Lao economy, the first dam was also a boon for a foreign company like Statkraft whose part of business strategy is “to develop, build, and operate hydropower in emerging markets.” Lars Magnus Guther, the company’s corporate communication advisor, indicates that Laos was such a market with a growing energy demand and huge untapped potential for hydropower. Guther says Statkraft and Swedish Vattenfall were approached by the Lao government and Asian Development Bank (ADB) back in the early90s after Statkraft’s “100 years of hydropower competency” caught their attention. The two companies established a joint venture under Nordic Hydropower and took a 20% stake in THPC. Later, in 2001, Statkraft bought Vattenfall’s share and took over the company. The Norwegian counterpart provided THPC with technical support, equipment and Operation and Maintenance managers posted at both project camp grounds.

Is it really “Green”? “Sustainability” and “green economy” are among the banners THPC and Statkraft have been promoting over the years, thanks to their hydropower production that leaves zero waste and is renewable and a long list of supporting schemes aimed at helping the villagers create a long-lasting future. But a Canadian-born activist Lee says she is rather skeptical about such offerings being at all viable. From her visits to resettlement and relocation sites, Lee states that some of the plans to restore the people’s livelihoods are proved difficult. For example, at one village, there was an attempt to develop fish ponds in the rice fields. Villagers were provided with compensated land and development equipment and training but it ended up a failure as “the valley doesn’t have good soil for dry-season rice farming.” The loss of fishery is another alarming concern for the villagers who have not been relocated to the new villages. Lee says that stronger water flow wipes away aqua-plants along the river tributaries – what used to be the breeding place for fish – which causes frustration to the villagers who still rely on fishery as THPC’s support hasn’t yet arrived. “That kind of situation where you have a total loss of food security and the future of people there. I would challenge how to call that part of the green economy, really.”

Long road to sustainability During a meeting I had with Robert Allen, THPC’s general manager, at the company’s Headquarters in Vientiane, the veteran investment consultant admits he understands that changes come with consequences. “We don’t deny that we have to move them but the new livelihoods does take an effort in time,” says Allen, adding that new paddy rice field takes 3-4 years to develop into full production. “So along the way we keep supporting the villagers until they achieve it.” The achievement is the income target April 2013 • ScandAsia.China 21

Students of the relocation village Phoumakneng studying in a Lao language class.

per household of USD 1800 for resettled villagers, USD 1450 for relocated persons - 25-40% above the income levels surveyed at the beginning of the project - by diverse livelihoods. A whole range of activities, from cash crops planting, commercial fisheries to the development of various types of fish ponds, are being introduced to the villagers by Livelihoods staff, part of Social and Environmental Division (SED), a compartment within THPC, which Allen states “report directly to me.” These projects were born to find suitable career choices for each household in a mix of schools, clinics and community infrastructures – “which didn’t exist before” – as well as the village organisation, another crucial task. “It’s easy to put in an irrigation scheme you see in Thailand and elsewhere. But if you don’t teach the villagers how to manage it, it can be a waste. So we’re spending a lot of time doing that too,” says Allen. One example of the managerial buildup that is prevailing and has created quite an income for the villagers can be seen at Ban Keosenkham, located on the valley heading to the reservoir gate, where the Village Fishery Group was established. The villagers, under a supervision of THPC’s Fishery staff and district administration, regulated their own fishing rules. Destructive fishing equipment is prohibited and fishing licensing has been set up. They also set a selling price with the merchants who travel daily to the village to buy the just-caught products. “We are now looking into finding a suitable breeding zone for fish in the reservoir so that the number of fish will last for generations to come,” says Xiangkhan, head of the Village Fishery Group. Allen says these approaches were taken from other community projects that had been successful in the past, in the likes of the United Nations’, World Bank’s, ADB’s and whatnot. “Are we going to have some failures? Yes, but we have to adapt. That’s the attitude we have: we change when things don’t work.”

development that has taken place means many things to many families. A new Hyundai van that is parked in front of one house displays the success of hard work that has been put into developing their first potatoes farming. Mushroom farming is also a hit here: three families even split their roles in cultivating them. The all-weather roads have led many traders from the city coming in to pick up cash crops to sell. “It has become the main livelihood component for villagers here,” says a local truck driver whose deliveries are for the factories in the city and in Vietnam. He comes to the village during the harvesting seasons and, in a good day, would collect almost two tons of sliced potatoes. “These villagers are from different tribes. In the beginning, some didn’t want to work because it’s not in their nature, but when they saw the neighbours profiting from the farming, it has encouraged them to do the same,” he says. The access to electricity is a stark development

The future

One of the Livelihoods staff showing an example of a good cut.

At the resettlement site of Nong Xong, the 22 ScandAsia.China • April 2013

too. They were given free installation of electricity but are responsible for paying their own electricity bills. Irrigation scheme electricity bills are paid by the company or subsidised for varying periods of time. However critics have doubted how much benefits the project can provide to Laos as a whole, when majority of THPC’s production is being exported to Thailand and the Laotians are buying it back at a higher rate. “The problem with electricity [in Laos] is that it’s very difficult to transport,” explains Glendenning, suggesting that the country full of natural richness is so vast when compared to its 6 million population. “To build transmission to the north of the country for only a handful hundreds is too expensive.” On my way back from the project-inspection trip, I visited a middle school at Phoumakneng, the relocation village, a properly built building located on a higher land overlooking the entire village. But a high school across the yard is not of the same standards. “We got compensated for what we had before. It was our traditional methods of building: to use woods and natural materials,” says the school principal Waan Phrakhunthong. “I think we’re better off this way. Students from different villages don’t have to walk a long distance to get education anymore. We’re right here.” Eager to hear what other villagers think of the future that will hold for all of them, I went to talk to the village head Phoumy Phetbounthong. “Do you think you will be able to live here for a long time?” I asked. “Oh yes. I will live here. My children, grandchildren will live here. We are stable here,” says Phetbounthong. Those assuring words do not necessarily guarantee what will come next, but there’s one thing the general manager Allen holds dear in mind. “Is every villager 100% happy yet? No and that’s going to be a challenge for long-term but the approach is going very well. There are also summaries of what we need to work on – improving soil and livelihoods. But we have to stay until we achieve.”

Medium

Danish Ham with Beer By Anders Holm Nielsen

terrific meal when serving a large number of guests. This recipe from Denmark combines the Danish love of pork with the fact that Danish beer is world renowned.

Evil

Serves 10 people Ingredients • 1 ham -- tenderized • ½ teaspoon • dry mustard • 4 tablespoons water • 1 cup brown sugar • 10 bay leaves • 1 liter of beer

Preparation • Remove all but a thin layer of fat from the ham. • Score the top. Place in a roasting pan. • Mix mustard, water and sugar to the consistency of prepared mustard. • Cover the ham with this mixture. • Stick cloves in the ham surface. • Fasten the bay leaves to the ham with small skewers or toothpicks broken in half. • Pour the beer over the ham and bake, uncovered, 30 minutes to the pound in an oven preheated to 220 ºC • Use the liquid in the pan as a sauce for the ham.

Danish Scalloped Potatoes (Creamed Potatoes) Potatoes are a very important ingredient in traditional Danish cooking. Try this recipe for Danish scalloped potatoes. The potatoes go well with any type of steak or roast (beef, pork, lamb, veal).

Are you done?

Preparation

hen you have completed the above puzzles, please send your solution by fax to +66 2 943 7169 or scan and email to puzzles@ scandasia.com. We will make a lucky draw among the correct answers. Five lucky winners will receive a ScandAsia polo shirt. Name:

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Deadline for submitting your solution is 15 May 2013

Ingredients • 5-6 pounds potatoes • 6 large onions – finely chopped • 4 crushed garlic gloves • Salt • Pepper • Mornay sauce (Béchamel sauce with shredded or grated cheese) • Cream (or milk if you are on a diet)

• Peel the potatoes and cut them into thin slices. • Chop the onions • Mix mornay sauce and cream. ¼ of mornay sauce and ¾ of cream • Mix potatoes with onions and place it in an ovenproof dish • Add mix of cream and Mornay sauce so it nearly covers the potatoes. • Add garlic, salt and pepper and stir lightly. • Place in preheated oven at 180 degrees.

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