The Chinese have a saying that ‘"from chaos comes opportunity," and this has proven to be the case for those able to overcome the obstacles created by the government. I am now feeling increasingly confident that EASTWEST China is starting to operate as a functional business and that life is beginning to return to normality. 
On Monday I had our Safe delivered, hopefully forboding good times to come. The 16.5kg model G1-220 model is made in Shanghai, by Diebold who have apparently been safeguarding the assets of others since 1859, which means that their website statement ‘We won’t rest’ has proven to be true. The safe cost RMB480 (US$60) including delivery, and into it I placed a wedge of RMB100 bills (US$12.5) still the largest denomination bill, in readiness for payday for Judy, Ben and the landlord. On Tuesday Beijing felt a 5.1 scale earth tremor which causes a bit of a stir, but the Diebold sat in the cupboard unperturbed. One of the first documents that we will place in the Safe will be our new tenancy agreement, the promise of which has buoyed my spirits and made me realise that I must be more flexibile in my approach to business here. Judy managed to find a company that will sign a one year lease for RMB1,500 per month in the understanding that we will terminate once we have our registration complete. In one of the first conversations about ethics, I shared that we must have integrity in our dealings and be honest even if in the short term it is more costly. Judy, who confided that she attends a ‘family church,’ and Ben, who left his former Italian employer on some issue of principle, both appeared relieved by my statement, if perhaps bemused. However, the honest path has proven to be possible as Judy has secured us a tenancy that should enable registration to go through for the WOFE. After some 6 months, it was good to actually get down to some client work, which ironically enough is soothing. Warren Buffet once apparently said that ‘buying companies is what we do when we aren’t running them,’ and this is true also of expanding operations, it doesn’t actually bring value to the client until it is truly operational, but now with the 
core team of Ben, Judy and I servicing Coding and supporting China Entprepreneurs and Mobile Monday, I feel that we are more like a company. As a result we issued a press release to announce the office opening, and sent out nearly 1000 emails to partners and potential clients. Sometimes I find it is tempting to stay in background operational mode, avoiding networking and the sharp point of business, actually closing deals, or worse still being rejected and finding all the work is for nought. I realize that I have been in danger of seeking safe ground all the time, and that in China this is not a feasible strategy; I have to be more fluid and dynamic in my thinking and my actions. In a society as organized as Singapore one can abdicate responsibilty for many decisions, even down to protecting ones’ own cash, but in China one needs to really have ones wits about them. Perhaps ironically, in China the Government is the source of the instability with which we wrestle, as there are so many conflicting departments each of which appears to operate with an autonomy and authority that make their promulgations all pervasive and at times immediate. This week a new draft law promulagated by the Legislative Affairs Office of the State Council threatens to fine news media upto RMB50,000 for reporting on ‘sudden incidents’ without permission, but also impacts officials who hide information on such incidents. It is easy for incidents to be misinterpreted in China, not least because of the language challenges, and the multiple perspectives held. I asked Ben to translate our Values Statement which includes ‘Creativity in thinking, Professionalism in business, and Integrity in relationships.’ “What kind of integrity do you mean?” asked Ben in all sincerity. “Honesty to a set of ideals” I replied, realizing that ‘integrity’ has a firm set of values in my own my mind and that I had assumed it would be the same for Ben. Over dinner Ben said he shared my definition of integrity, but that as a returning scholar from the UK, he feels as though he is “caught between being Chinese and being a westerner,” a sentiment echoed by Clara, also a returning scholar who runs a public relations firm. “Our society is changing,” confided Clara over lunch after we had been to the driving range at Moonriver, “but men are still in control of our society, with the exception of some service industries like public relations.” Clara is part of what appears to be a sizeable number of early thirty year old Chinese women who have studied abroad and brought home western values which sit ill at ease with traditional Confucian society mores. Although the ratio of men to women is apparently 117:100 I seem to meet a lot of these extremely capable single women for whom the Chinese male doesn’t seem to have caught up, but with positions of power have little need to change. In this way urban China mirrors the changes of western society heralded by the ‘Feminine Mystique ’ and the ensuing 1960’s movement that left a generation of men stranded without their supplicant wives, before they found themselves competing with their spouses in the workplace. I am trying to make our workplace bi-lingual, believing that this will be more inclusive and enable everyone to contribute to their optimum level, but it also means that I need to get back to the studies. My issue is that I can pronounce my well rehearsed lines convincingly, which means that people reply in Mandarin, not all of which I understand. I may be proven to be making a mistake as I could enforce the use of English in the office, but it feels both part of the challenge and important to be in China, not floating on the surface of it. I was slightly taken aback though when Ben and I went to the sandwich shop and I spied what I thought was ‘leg on fire’ on a choice of bread. Fortunately Ben rescued me by explaining cannibalism hasn’t arrived at SOHO, but rather leg + fire = ham. Seemed a logical enough combination to Ben and the counter girls, but I still didn’t feel entirely safe, and ordered cheese takeaway instead.
On Monday I had our Safe delivered, hopefully forboding good times to come. The 16.5kg model G1-220 model is made in Shanghai, by Diebold who have apparently been safeguarding the assets of others since 1859, which means that their website statement ‘We won’t rest’ has proven to be true. The safe cost RMB480 (US$60) including delivery, and into it I placed a wedge of RMB100 bills (US$12.5) still the largest denomination bill, in readiness for payday for Judy, Ben and the landlord. On Tuesday Beijing felt a 5.1 scale earth tremor which causes a bit of a stir, but the Diebold sat in the cupboard unperturbed. One of the first documents that we will place in the Safe will be our new tenancy agreement, the promise of which has buoyed my spirits and made me realise that I must be more flexibile in my approach to business here. Judy managed to find a company that will sign a one year lease for RMB1,500 per month in the understanding that we will terminate once we have our registration complete. In one of the first conversations about ethics, I shared that we must have integrity in our dealings and be honest even if in the short term it is more costly. Judy, who confided that she attends a ‘family church,’ and Ben, who left his former Italian employer on some issue of principle, both appeared relieved by my statement, if perhaps bemused. However, the honest path has proven to be possible as Judy has secured us a tenancy that should enable registration to go through for the WOFE. After some 6 months, it was good to actually get down to some client work, which ironically enough is soothing. Warren Buffet once apparently said that ‘buying companies is what we do when we aren’t running them,’ and this is true also of expanding operations, it doesn’t actually bring value to the client until it is truly operational, but now with the 
core team of Ben, Judy and I servicing Coding and supporting China Entprepreneurs and Mobile Monday, I feel that we are more like a company. As a result we issued a press release to announce the office opening, and sent out nearly 1000 emails to partners and potential clients. Sometimes I find it is tempting to stay in background operational mode, avoiding networking and the sharp point of business, actually closing deals, or worse still being rejected and finding all the work is for nought. I realize that I have been in danger of seeking safe ground all the time, and that in China this is not a feasible strategy; I have to be more fluid and dynamic in my thinking and my actions. In a society as organized as Singapore one can abdicate responsibilty for many decisions, even down to protecting ones’ own cash, but in China one needs to really have ones wits about them. Perhaps ironically, in China the Government is the source of the instability with which we wrestle, as there are so many conflicting departments each of which appears to operate with an autonomy and authority that make their promulgations all pervasive and at times immediate. This week a new draft law promulagated by the Legislative Affairs Office of the State Council threatens to fine news media upto RMB50,000 for reporting on ‘sudden incidents’ without permission, but also impacts officials who hide information on such incidents. It is easy for incidents to be misinterpreted in China, not least because of the language challenges, and the multiple perspectives held. I asked Ben to translate our Values Statement which includes ‘Creativity in thinking, Professionalism in business, and Integrity in relationships.’ “What kind of integrity do you mean?” asked Ben in all sincerity. “Honesty to a set of ideals” I replied, realizing that ‘integrity’ has a firm set of values in my own my mind and that I had assumed it would be the same for Ben. Over dinner Ben said he shared my definition of integrity, but that as a returning scholar from the UK, he feels as though he is “caught between being Chinese and being a westerner,” a sentiment echoed by Clara, also a returning scholar who runs a public relations firm. “Our society is changing,” confided Clara over lunch after we had been to the driving range at Moonriver, “but men are still in control of our society, with the exception of some service industries like public relations.” Clara is part of what appears to be a sizeable number of early thirty year old Chinese women who have studied abroad and brought home western values which sit ill at ease with traditional Confucian society mores. Although the ratio of men to women is apparently 117:100 I seem to meet a lot of these extremely capable single women for whom the Chinese male doesn’t seem to have caught up, but with positions of power have little need to change. In this way urban China mirrors the changes of western society heralded by the ‘Feminine Mystique ’ and the ensuing 1960’s movement that left a generation of men stranded without their supplicant wives, before they found themselves competing with their spouses in the workplace. I am trying to make our workplace bi-lingual, believing that this will be more inclusive and enable everyone to contribute to their optimum level, but it also means that I need to get back to the studies. My issue is that I can pronounce my well rehearsed lines convincingly, which means that people reply in Mandarin, not all of which I understand. I may be proven to be making a mistake as I could enforce the use of English in the office, but it feels both part of the challenge and important to be in China, not floating on the surface of it. I was slightly taken aback though when Ben and I went to the sandwich shop and I spied what I thought was ‘leg on fire’ on a choice of bread. Fortunately Ben rescued me by explaining cannibalism hasn’t arrived at SOHO, but rather leg + fire = ham. Seemed a logical enough combination to Ben and the counter girls, but I still didn’t feel entirely safe, and ordered cheese takeaway instead.