19 February 2007 Finally we have sorted out our new office, also in Jian Wai SOHO, in time for the Year of the Pig, having finally defeated the Panda virus and now looking forward to getting down to some serious business. 
We had many fun and games with the office, eventually learning how to win the game of bluff with the agents. In the event Xiaolei and I found three agents and asked them all to look for the same kind of office. All three agents found the exact same office, but each with a different price and payment terms. Xiaolei refused to deal with anyone without meeting the landlord. Mr Lu’s son is in Belgrade doing business, leaving the 69 year old gentlemen to sit opposite Xiaolei and I to discuss the rental of the 187m² office priced eventually at RMB15,500. Once we had agreed to bi-monthly payments, apparently to help meet the loan, Mr Lu’s next priority was that we keep the office tidy and clean. In Chinese I invited Mr Lu to take tea with me at any time he chose, the young agent with a Playboy motif on his shoes casting me a grateful glance as this re-assured Mr Lu sufficiently to sign the documentation. I noticed a discrepancy in the ownership documentation – our office, 2002, is on the 22nd floor – apparently because there is no 4 or 14th floors as the sound for the number ‘4’ is similar to that of ‘xi’, or death. Dispatching with ghosts and evil spirits is the role of the tremendous number of firecrackers which people let off leading up to and during the Chinese New Year, 2007 being the Year of the Pig. Apparently 380,000 boxes of legal firecrackers were sold in Beijing, creating a cacophony that not only dispatches spirits but also sent some 160,000 dashing for the airport on New Years’ eve. There were some 400 million text messages sent by Beijingers, 5,800 per second; perhaps because it is so hard to hear anything. One of the more famous residents of Beijing, President Hu Jintao, left Beijing to spend New Years Eve with farmers in Gansu province in northwest China, where average incomes are US$296 p.a. The Government continues to prioritize development in the rural west as people in urban eastern centres are enjoying an economic resurgence. One group enjoying the new economic liberalisation are entrepreneurs, of whom there are reportedly 25 million according to research issued this week. This group apparently ‘support the leadership,’ and ‘are not as rich as people think,’ a finding with which I heartily concur. This body of enterprising souls is apparently 90% comprised of people between 33-57 years old, but in my experience the age group is much younger, which means that the All China Federation of Industry & Commerce and Admin for Industry & Commerce (AIC) are missing the plot. As it is the AIC which promulgated the laws on company registration that have taken me 7 months to recover from, I am inclined to disrespect their research. One of the entrepreneurs to be caught out this week was the inventor of the Panda virus. A 25 year old, Li Jun, and 7 of his no doubt spotty and emaciated mates in the city of Wuhan wrote the code that destroyed our IT infrastructure and that of millions of other people, selling it to some 120 companies in exchange for US$13,000. I thought to offer US$1,000 to the authorities for every Pig Year that Li Jun and his cohorts celebrate without access to a mouse while in a concrete pig sty. Now as I enter the Year of the Pig I feel that I have the key components of the China operation in place as the count down to the Olympics continues with 537 days left. The legal registrations have been taken care of and the new office is a wonderful space looking west towards Tiananmen Square and to the fragrant hills, which we can see on a clear day. Ben, Nellie and Xiao lei form the core components of a working team. My set back was that a senior consultant that I tried to hire decided to join a large multi national agency instead, but I feel that now the essential operational issues are solved, I can focus on building the business. In the Year of the Dog I felt at times as though I was straining at the leash of Chinese bureaucracy; in the Year of the Pig I hope that I don’t get put on a spit. Happy New Year in Chinese is said “Gong Xi Fa Cai.” This means ‘I wish that you will be prosperous,’ a good blessing irrespective of the year we are entering. Man Zou Jin Bao.
We had many fun and games with the office, eventually learning how to win the game of bluff with the agents. In the event Xiaolei and I found three agents and asked them all to look for the same kind of office. All three agents found the exact same office, but each with a different price and payment terms. Xiaolei refused to deal with anyone without meeting the landlord. Mr Lu’s son is in Belgrade doing business, leaving the 69 year old gentlemen to sit opposite Xiaolei and I to discuss the rental of the 187m² office priced eventually at RMB15,500. Once we had agreed to bi-monthly payments, apparently to help meet the loan, Mr Lu’s next priority was that we keep the office tidy and clean. In Chinese I invited Mr Lu to take tea with me at any time he chose, the young agent with a Playboy motif on his shoes casting me a grateful glance as this re-assured Mr Lu sufficiently to sign the documentation. I noticed a discrepancy in the ownership documentation – our office, 2002, is on the 22nd floor – apparently because there is no 4 or 14th floors as the sound for the number ‘4’ is similar to that of ‘xi’, or death. Dispatching with ghosts and evil spirits is the role of the tremendous number of firecrackers which people let off leading up to and during the Chinese New Year, 2007 being the Year of the Pig. Apparently 380,000 boxes of legal firecrackers were sold in Beijing, creating a cacophony that not only dispatches spirits but also sent some 160,000 dashing for the airport on New Years’ eve. There were some 400 million text messages sent by Beijingers, 5,800 per second; perhaps because it is so hard to hear anything. One of the more famous residents of Beijing, President Hu Jintao, left Beijing to spend New Years Eve with farmers in Gansu province in northwest China, where average incomes are US$296 p.a. The Government continues to prioritize development in the rural west as people in urban eastern centres are enjoying an economic resurgence. One group enjoying the new economic liberalisation are entrepreneurs, of whom there are reportedly 25 million according to research issued this week. This group apparently ‘support the leadership,’ and ‘are not as rich as people think,’ a finding with which I heartily concur. This body of enterprising souls is apparently 90% comprised of people between 33-57 years old, but in my experience the age group is much younger, which means that the All China Federation of Industry & Commerce and Admin for Industry & Commerce (AIC) are missing the plot. As it is the AIC which promulgated the laws on company registration that have taken me 7 months to recover from, I am inclined to disrespect their research. One of the entrepreneurs to be caught out this week was the inventor of the Panda virus. A 25 year old, Li Jun, and 7 of his no doubt spotty and emaciated mates in the city of Wuhan wrote the code that destroyed our IT infrastructure and that of millions of other people, selling it to some 120 companies in exchange for US$13,000. I thought to offer US$1,000 to the authorities for every Pig Year that Li Jun and his cohorts celebrate without access to a mouse while in a concrete pig sty. Now as I enter the Year of the Pig I feel that I have the key components of the China operation in place as the count down to the Olympics continues with 537 days left. The legal registrations have been taken care of and the new office is a wonderful space looking west towards Tiananmen Square and to the fragrant hills, which we can see on a clear day. Ben, Nellie and Xiao lei form the core components of a working team. My set back was that a senior consultant that I tried to hire decided to join a large multi national agency instead, but I feel that now the essential operational issues are solved, I can focus on building the business. In the Year of the Dog I felt at times as though I was straining at the leash of Chinese bureaucracy; in the Year of the Pig I hope that I don’t get put on a spit. Happy New Year in Chinese is said “Gong Xi Fa Cai.” This means ‘I wish that you will be prosperous,’ a good blessing irrespective of the year we are entering. Man Zou Jin Bao.