Re:market correction... by MacGyver30th, Jul. 04:11 PM Market is bullish again.. Good trading period from now to early-m...
Re:Map Technology - ... by happin30th, Jul. 03:16 PM MAP is now at 6 cents. Noticed that yesterday's last trade was 1...
Re:Rokko-An Explosiv... by neontet30th, Jul. 07:41 AM all these semicon companies are doing really well.
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market correction by pathfinder30th, Jul. 12:10 AM With all US company result good news ending in 2 weeks time & no ...
Re:Rokko-An Explosiv... by MOSBY29th, Jul. 11:49 PM http://www.remisiers.org/research//dailyex2307.pdf
TP :$0.30...
SHENZHEN: Briton builds bridges of commerce, communication
Written by Andrew Vanburen (China Correspondent)
Saturday, 27 February 2010
A River Runs Through It: Southern China’s Shenzhen (left) has benefited greatly from its proximity to Hong Kong. Photo: Andrew Vanburen
NEXTINSIGHT BRINGS YOU a series of interviews with expatriates who call the southern Chinese metropolis of Shenzhen both their workplace and home.
Our aim is to offer insights into what could be The Next Big Thing – Shenzhen – a city whose GDP growth and population have outpaced those of its richer neighbor, Hong Kong, seemingly since people began paying attention to the big and little dragons’ economic performance in the first place.
We also hope to bring a series of revealing snapshots on just what it takes for non-locals to live and work here, and thrive while doing so.
A common thread linking these industrious expats together is how they have taken the best from their diverse cultural backgrounds to make a name for themselves in a faraway place like Shenzhen..
The Middle Kingdom takes great pride in being a country with 56 officially recognized ethnicities. But among China’s 1.3 bln denizens, the majority Han Chinese still make up well over 90% of the total population.
Despite the fact that the country is no longer building Great Walls to keep foreigners out, expats – especially non-Han residents -- are still a relative rarity in Chinese cities compared to say New York, London or Melbourne.
But the days of putting up walls are a thing of the distant past and cities like Shenzhen, which borders the more cosmopolitan Hong Kong, are beginning to catch up in terms of their expat tallies.For years, when denizens of Shenzhen or visitors to the southern Chinese city were asked what was the best thing about the place, they would often answer: proximity to Hong Kong.
Not exactly a ringing endorsement.
And when queried on what most irked them about Shenzhen, the same people would frequently cite the city’s relative lack of history.
But things are rapidly changing in this dynamic 10-mln strong city which sports the highest percentage of non-local born residents of all the country’s major population centers.
London, New York and San Francisco of old – which in Chinese translates as “Old Gold Mountain” due to the belief by some in centuries past that the streets of America were indeed paved with the stuff.—were the destination of millions of Cantonese, Fujianese and other immigrants from Cathay looking to find their fortune in far-off, mysterious and more prosperous lands.
Now the hosts are becoming the guests as more and more foreigners seek to improve their lot in China.
In this fifth installment, we meet UK expat Mr. Derek Richard, a quality control advisor for information systems and smart-grid technologies – both booming undertakings in Modern China. NextInsight: How would you describe the business operating climate where you are now compared to that in your homeland?
Mr. Richard: Ironically, the thing that strikes me as being the biggest contrast is the laxity and wiggle room of operating here in a business sense compared to back home. My peers in the technical field I remember quite clearly complaining about all the red tape, regulations and inspection-happy environment in the UK that lurked just behind the curtain awaiting anyone willing to expand business or open a new enterprise in my field.
Derek Richard says Shenzhen's investment environment is becoming more transparent.
Most outsiders consider the UK to be the freest and most open economy in the EU zone and that may well be true. In fact, the streets of London are teeming with French and Polish entrepreneurs who gravitate toward a more nurturing business climate, feeling that innovation and change are smothered by regulation if not outright roadblocks in their homelands.
However, strangely enough, that is the same reason why I feel comfortable doing business here rather than back in the UK. There is a very loosey-goosey, devil-may-care, cross-that-bridge-when-you-get-to-it business mentality here that rewards the diligent, persistent and clever, an on-the-ground reality that most back in the UK would not expect from a communist nation like China.
What are the most obvious changes you have witnessed or sensed during your time here?
For anthropologists, sociologists and economists – especially economists – I can well imagine that Shenzhen is a dream study as a city. During my half-decade here, I have witnessed the incredible vibrancy that makes the city throb with activity during working hours, and then see that loud constant hum of inertia switched off like a light during the holidays.
This is the essence of Shenzhen, as during the Golden Week Holidays, including the just-concluded Spring Festival, the cities factories, restaurants and taxi ranks are nearly completely hollowed out for several days as the unskilled masses return home to their families in disparate provinces to break bread – and knead dumplings – with their extended families.
This actually has become more pronounced over time as word of the city’s phenomenal growth spreads to more and more villages in China’s hinterlands, thus attracting more and more fortune-seekers to the city beside Shenzhen.
Shenzhen is and probably always will be a city of outsiders, albeit almost exclusively from within China. But this is changing, as I am hearing more and more English and other non-Chinese languages on the streets, but less and less of the local patois – Cantonese.
If your children (current or future) told you they wanted to settle in your current city (in China), study, work and raise a family here, how would you feel?
If these future, hypothetical beings are indeed chips of the old block, I can imagine they will have a bit of the wanderlust as I did, and seek their place wherever change takes them. If our hometown back in the UK is the apple, then I suppose these future offspring might very well fall far from the tree.
That wouldn’t bother me in the slightest. The UK has greatly benefited from skilled expat labor on her shores. I don’t see any reason why China won’t as well.
If the economy in the current city where you are slows of softens considerably, would you immediately relocate, or do you feel China is your home and you will ride out the rough times?
I think it’s natural for people to follow money. That being said, obviously there are infrastructural limits and certain cities can only reasonably support so many consumers of water, public transport, residential property and health care. So if in financial straits, I would use legal channels to relocate elsewhere in China, or perhaps repatriate myself to the UK.
I think that regardless of the economy, at the end of the day all one needs are determination and one’s health. Everything else is supplemental to success.
What are some of the best things about doing business in China today? What things would you most like to see changed?
'There is really no such thing as no in this business environment'. Shenzhen resident Derek Richard.
As mentioned earlier, I most appreciate the flexibility and “creativity” of doing business here, especially in technical fields like mine. Whenever we run up against a seemingly immovable dictate, someone on our team suggest talking to “another person” who somehow talks to the “original person” about what I know not, with the end result being that said dictate or regulation can be re-discussed again, over dinner, that very night.
While this seeming charade may prove exhausting to a newcomer unused to local ways, it can be exhilarating at times because it means there really is no such thing as “no” in this business environment, unless of course you are willing to settle for that answer.
How do you feel about the current residential property prices in Shenzhen for renting? How about for buying? How have you felt about property prices going up/down in your time here?
I must say, I have been blessedly ignorant of these shifts because my firm has from day one been quite generous in providing me with living accommodations. I have a true expat package – yes, as archaic as that sounds, they do still exist for the fortunate! Therefore, I am not personally affected by rent hikes or real estate speculation’s deleterious impact on home prices.
However, many of my peers are and it makes many of them both delirious about the investment opportunities, but also terrified of either bubble-bursts or haphazard government crackdowns meant to preempt said bubbles.
How about the cost of transportation, entertainment, and food/drink?
The biggest difference is air. Plane tickets back in England can be incredibly cheap off-season or to less-prominent destinations. And domestic flights back home can also produce some shocking bargains. However, in China, I often fly the Shenzhen-Shanghai corridor and it is nearly impossible to get anything other than a full-price ticket on a weekday, and they are not cheap by any means for a mere 90 minute flight. And this in a country where the average annual salary is only around 2,500 usd.
But for similar flights back home, one can frequently fly on a shoestring budget.
Ajisen (Hong Kong) is looking to neighboring Shenzhen and other mainland boomtowns to feed future growth. Photo: Ajisen
However, ground transportation here whether by train, subway, coach or taxi is far, far cheaper than back in the UK.
I am not sure why this all is. My first guess would be that Chinese passenger carriers enjoyed a monopoly. But it seems I am often taxiing down some domestic runway and notice a new domestic carrier I hadn’t before. This is all part of the mystery of living and doing business here where perhaps ordinary rules we are used to back home don’t necessarily apply.
Has your income risen at the same rate as inflation (rise of property/transportation, entertainment, food/drink?
Yes and then some. Salary-wise, I have been very fortunate and blessed (don’t tell my boss!) probably because our services are so in demand.
Is your business doing better, worse, or the same as when you first began working in Shenzhen? Why do you think that is? What are your plans to improve your business in Shenzhen over the next year?
It is thriving at present, and barring any unforeseen hurdle, will continue to do so until China stops needing information and power networks.
Have you gotten the investment bug and put some of your hard-earned money in the market?
That is something I admittedly lose sleep over at times, and kick myself over. I would say I earmark 5-10% of my annual salary to equity investments, but most are in low risk, low yield vehicles. In addition, I am so busy with my work I couldn’t begin to help orchestrate this money’s distribution in a timely manner.
When I do find time to monitor it, I notice that it is usually in the more mature markets of the world, but I suspect that as China’s economy matures, more of it will seep into domestic A-shares or certainly over the “border” in Hong Kong and chase higher returns in an increasingly transparent investment environment.
Click here to read the previous expat story about another UK executive who spends his time inspecting factories in China.
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