China is coming

These days, when discussing globalization with my friends, the discussion often touches upon China.  And more often than not I hear skepticism when suggesting that China’s role is becoming more important and more influential.  While I am of the opinion that China is in its early stages of being a global superpower, many people seem to believe that China has some sort of limitation that it won’t ever overcome.  The mass production of cheap, low quality goods seems to be the sky’s limit.  I strongly disagree with that.  I’ve read and heard plenty about the quality of Chinese production going up.  And I don’t believe that China is limited by cheap labor alone.

Today, I read an article in GigaOm about Chinese geeks, who have studied and worked in US.  Many of them, it seems, are going home to start business in China.  Here is a quote form the article:

In China, the red-hot tech scene seems dominated by a small group of entrepreneurs who paid their dues in Silicon Valley before returning home to create successful Internet and software startups. Aside from finding fame and fortune, these “returnees” are also laying the foundation for a startup culture that will allow grassroots entrepreneurs to flourish as well.

Returnees — Chinese nationals who studied or worked the U.S. — head up just 3 percent of all tech companies in China, yet they represent nearly 70 percent of all startups that go public in the U.S. market (still the largest measure of success in the industry), according to an internal study by Palo Alto, Calif.-based venture capital firm GSR Ventures, which deals exclusively in China. The firm also found startups created by returnees were much likelier to become financially successful and hire more employees than startups founded by Chinese entrepreneurs who never worked in the U.S.

On the same note, I’ve heard similar things about India too.  You don’t have to know too much about Indians in technology – look at some conference presentations from Google, Yahoo or Microsoft.  Half of the people speaking will be of Indian decent. And one day some of them will go back to India to start their own business too.  Still think that China and India will serve the world with cheap labor  and call centers for the eternity?

 

Learn Chinese in 5 minutes

I’ve been looking for this for some time.  I only remembered “sum sing wong”, but I knew there were more.  Today, while on the corporate chat discussing what to order from Chinese for lunch, someone pasted the links to Part 1 and Part 2.  My favorite ones are below:

  • That’s not right : Sum Ting Wong
  • See me ASAP: Kum Hia Nao
  • I thought you were on a diet: Wai Yu Mun Ching
  • Our meeting is scheduled for next week: Wai Yu Kum Nao
  • Give me the money! : Pei Nau
  • Where’s the restroom: Ai Pe Nau
  • Your price is too high: Ai No Bai Dam Ting
  • I am not guilty: Wai Hang Mi
  • Having an early orgasm: Kum Tu Suun
  • Now I understand: Ai See Nau

Share yours in the comments!

P.S.: And if you want to continue along the same line but with pictures, make sure to check out Engrish.

Switch to Gmail

Gmail blog announces Switch To Gmail – a new website that should assist all those who haven’t switched yet.  On to of that they added email migration support for another 14 domains – mostly Asian Hotmail, Live, and Yahoo sites.

This announcement is surprisingly close to the recent accusation of Chinese government interference:

“This is a government blockage carefully designed to look like the problem is with Gmail,” a Google spokesperson said.

Traffic jam of the year

Every time I complain about getting stuck in a major traffic jam for 20 minutes, my Moscow friends are laughing at me.  They say that I have no right to complain about 20 minutes, when they spend hours waiting in traffic.  And that’s on a daily basis.  It’s not anything out of the ordinary to spend 3 hours on your way to work and another 3 on your way back home in the traffic jam in Moscow.  But today I heard something that makes those 3 hour traffic jam sound like nothing.

Picture this: an epic traffic jam in China, where some people are stuck now for nine days! It’s been there for so long, that there are businesses starting up around this whole mess.  And some people go as far as to call it a temporary settlement.

Via kottke.