Global Strategies

Nathan on Chinese TV

There are young Americans in China, learning Mandarin, and participating fully in Chinese life. Sinosplice has an interesting post about Nathan’s appearance on Chinese TV (above and here):

On this show, each entrant is a job applicant given a chance to explain the type of job he’s looking for and interview with a panel of 12 bosses right there on camera. If all goes well, the bosses make offers to the applicant, and details of salary are discussed right on the show. Finally, the applicant is given a chance to accept the final offers or decline them and leave the stage.

This show is appealing for a number of reasons. There is quite a range of applicants, from young kids with no experience, to senior citizens, to the destitute and desperate, to the physically abnormal. Quite a few of the applicants just plain don’t have much to offer. The “bosses,” who are on the show to promote their own companies, can also say some interesting things. Perhaps one of the most compelling aspects to me is seeing what kind of job offers are made on the show, and what salaries the applicants will accept.

After watching this show for a while, I was surprised to see recently that there was a young American applicant. Unlike 非诚勿扰 (the dating show), which has had quite a few foreigners on the show, I’d never seen it on this show. The applicant was a 25-year-old white American male named Nathan (Chinese name: 尚德). Having lived in Beijing for a while, Nathan spoke pretty solid Chinese, and had no major issues communicating on the show. But the bosses’ reactions to Nathan were not quite what I expected…..

It is a long post, so I’ll just skip to part of Nathan’s reaction:

Could you tell us your background? How long have you been studying Chinese, where, and how?

Sure. I am twenty-five years old, from the US. I have been in China for about four years. I taught English for two and a half years, the last year studying Chinese with a tutor. After that, I have been studying at Beijing International Studies University (北京第二外国语学院）. Next year I will graduate with a degree in Chinese Language. I have been making up quite a few credits as I did not study at a formal institution before coming to BISU. Although I did study at Global Village in 五道口 Beijing (semi-formal I suppose) for a short time.

What made you decide to go on 非你莫属?

I went to 非你莫属 as an audience member with friends from our school tv station. I normally participate in various activities at our school. Some of the employees there suggested that I try for myself – I figured “Why not?”.

So are you saying you weren’t actually seriously applying for a job? You kind of just made something up to see what would happen?

I was serious about applying for a job, but I was very skeptical about being offered anything realistic. Had I been offered 旅游体验师, I would have accepted it. I talked to a headhunter who specifically works with foreigners in China at a reputable firm. Basically, if you were to find someone who was most familiar with my situation, you would ask her. She said that I should ask for 20,000 RMB a month. That is how much I could bring in as an English teacher. I doubt any of the bosses could make me that offer. Actually, the bosses are almost always much less serious about the process than contestants. They are just there to 打酱油 and get free press for their companies. Also, being on TV is fun.....

Again, note: while China is booming with business opportunities and there are some like Nathan, Portland Public Schools refuses to expands its Mandarin immersion program (in spite of sufficient parental/student demand) or to pay anything towards high school students studying in China for a school year.

"China is the world’s new place to dream big and strike it rich for today’s generation"

From Rebecca Fannin’s online post “China: The New Assertiveness” (here):

China is the world’s new place to dream big and strike it rich for today’s generation.  Inspired and motivated by the hero status of Robin Li of Baidu and Jack Ma of Alibaba, bright and ambitious talents under the age of 40 are creating a second, deeper and broader wave of China entrepreneurship. 

Record venture capital sums, first-mover advantage, market leaders, race-to-the-finish line timing, micro-tweaked innovations, ultra-competitive tactics – it’s all part of the new generation’s playbook to get ahead of the pack. Assertive and confident where their predecessors were humble and unsure, these mavericks are claiming their stake in the biggest entrepreneurial revolution the modern world has seen. Together, they are catapulting China as the unchallenged giant of the new Asian tech frontier, and perhaps, not far in the future, the globe.

The backdrop is China’s booming economy, its world-leading mobile and Internet markets, government initiatives to foster tech growth, the rise of  a ‘shop-til-you-drop’ consumer standing in line for a new iPad at Beijing’s Apple store ‒ and most of all, the creative drive of young graduates from elite universities worldwide. The action from college campuses to Park Avenue corporate offices to Wall Street to Silicon Valley startups is China, China!  Let’s go!

A young female entrepreneur I know dropped out of Yale University to move to Beijing and take up a job at GroupOn clone in China. She knew it would be risky and challenging but the lure of a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to join China’s tech race was irresistible.  She spent her first few weeks working past midnight to meet incredible sales quotas…..

Of course, while China is booming with business opportunities, Portland Public Schools refuses to expands its Mandarin immersion program (in spite of sufficient parental/student demand) or to pay anything towards high school students studying in China for a school year.

China's growth in patents

Can China become an innovative economy? Is it already on its way? 

Mark J. Perry produced the above graph and comments (among others, here):

…. In 1995, China granted only 3,393 patents, about 3% of the number of patents registered in the U.S. (101,419) and Japan (109,100) in that year.  In 2004, China granted more patents than Korea for the first time, and in 2005 more patents than Europe.  By 2009, China granted more patents (128,489) than Korea (56,732) and the European Patent Office (51,969) combined.  …. 

Bill Fischer (of Forbes.com) comments (here):

…. Yet, since it has long been useful to consider both the rate and direction of innovative activity, it pays us to ask “given that China’s rate of innovation appears (at least as far as patenting is concerned) to be rapid, does the direction of this activity give us a better sense of what is really going on?” In fact, there is a big difference between creating new ideas [creating value] and capturing the value associated with these new ideas. FT.com/alphaville reports that many of the Chinese patents counted are utility patents, and do not represent significant new contributions to knowledge [in other words, not value creation]. Furthermore, at least one observer on the scene has reported that Chinese government authorities are encouraging the disaggregation of patent applications in order to boost the numbers of patents being produced. This month, INSEAD’s Global Innovation Index for 2011 ranked China just 29th overall in innovation [Switzerland #1, U.S.A. # 7]. According to this analysis, although China’s innovation benefits from growing market and business sophistication (for a middle-income economy) and a lively financial sector, there are disadvantages associated with social infrastructure deficiencies relating to innovation-related institutions and human-capital development. It would appear that while China might be becoming more productive in generating patents, these may not necessarily translate into economic impact. On the other hand, China ranks #1 as the world’s top “importer of R&D,” which would be appropriate for innovation strategies based on value-capture. ….

1st Republican China-themed ad for 2012 election

 

Evan Osnos has spotted the first use of China in a politcal ad for 2012. He writes (here):

..... It’s not yet 2012, but Republicans have already hauled China back into the ring as foil and spectre. What appears to be the first China-themed advertisement of the Presidential race comes from the Republican National Committee. It features a little girl on a couch, flipping channels, on January 20, 2017, Obama’s last day of an eight-year tenure. A news broadcaster tells her, “Debt to China reaching record levels. Some analysts believe the Chinese have overtaken the United States.” (Never mind that the ad mistakenly features the image of sitting Chinese president Hu Jintao—who will be four years into retirement by 2017.)  .....

$800,000 for elections to replace Rep. Wu is too much. Cut the costs!

Oregon US Representative David Wu has announced he will resign as soon as the debt limit issue is resolved. The Oregonian today, 7/29/11, reported (here):

A special primary and general election will cost $800,000 to $1 million to select Wu's replacement, according to the Oregon secretary of state's office. Dates for those elections will be set by Gov. John Kitzhaber after Wu leaves office.

I’m not OK with that level of expense. Recall, please, that the recent legislative session could not find $30,000 to pay for the strategic priority of sending five Oregon high school students to China for the 2012-13 school year. At $8,500 per student covering tuition, room and board, and international transportation, we could send 100 high school students to China for a school year each for $850,000.  Just cutting election expenses in half could pay for sending fifty students.

I do not know what the least cost election process would be: probably with the special general election on the same date as other elections (local and school district measures, etc) in the district, and with party conventions and no primaries. Governor Kitzhaber, with staff help, of course, should figure out the least cost alternative and use it.

There will be primaries in May, with the general election in November, 2012, for the next full, two year term. That’s soon enough for the full participation election process.

It’s Kitzhaber’s call. And, so far, he given no indication that he understands that Oregon needs to respond to the rise of China.

No "Jobs" topic at Oregon Summit

I just received email notification of the tentative program for the Oregon Summit 2011, October 14-16, in Sunriver. It touts itself (here):

The Oregon Summit, hosted by the Democratic Party of Oregon every two years, is the premier political conference in the Pacific Northwest, drawing a wide variety of attendees: elected officials, community activists, business leaders, volunteers, future candidates and loyal Democratic supporters.

I am disappointed. I was not planning to go. It’s just too far away for me. But, nevertheless, how can they not have program components on “Jobs and the Economy” or “Education for Our Future.” I don’t see such topics on their tentative schedule of events (here). Women, gays, health care and environmental stewardship, plus general politics and campaigning are covered. All good stuff. But no “Jobs” or “Education?”

I have a suggestion. I understand a bipartisan legislative delegation of sixteen will be in China for several weeks in September. Get several Democratic legislators from that delegation to discuss what they saw on the China trip and what those insights mean for us in Oregon.

"Flipping" the way educational classes work

While Oregon’s educational establishment does little to empower individual students with computer/internet technology, the educational world is shifting. Consider, again, the online Khan Academy as discussed in Wired magazine’s article “How the Khan Academy Is Changing the Rules of Education” (here):

….. Initially, Thordarson thought Khan Academy would merely be a helpful supplement to her normal instruction. But it quickly become far more than that. She’s now on her way to “flipping” the way her class works. This involves replacing some of her lectures with Khan’s videos, which students can watch at home. Then, in class, they focus on working problem sets. The idea is to invert the normal rhythms of school, so that lectures are viewed on the kids’ own time and homework is done at school. It sounds weird, Thordarson admits, but this flipping makes sense when you think about it. It’s when they’re doing homework that students are really grappling with a subject and are most likely to need someone to talk to. And now Thordarson can tell just when this grappling occurs: Khan Academy provides teachers with a dashboard application that lets her see the instant a student gets stuck.

“I’m able to give specific, pinpointed help when needed,” she says.

The result is that Thordarson’s students move at their own pace. Those who are struggling get surgically targeted guidance, while advanced kids like Carpenter rocket far ahead; once they’re answering questions without making mistakes, Khan’s site automatically recommends new topics to move on to. Over half the class is now tackling subjects like algebra and geometric formulas. And even the less precocious kids are improving: Only 3 percent of her students were classified as average or lower in end-of-year tests, down from 13 percent at midyear.

For years, teachers like Thordarson have complained about the frustrations of teaching to the “middle” of the class. They stand at the whiteboard, trying to get 25 or more students to learn the same stuff at the same pace. And, of course, it never really works: Advanced kids get bored and tune out, lagging ones get lost and tune out, and pretty soon half the class isn’t paying attention. Since the rise of personal computers in the early ’80s, educators have hoped that technology could solve this problem by offering lessons tailored to each kid. Schools have blown millions, maybe billions, of dollars on sophisticated classroom technology, but the effort has been in vain….

And:

….Teachers have long known that one-on-one tutoring is effective, but in 1984, the education scholar Benjamin Bloom figured out precisely how effective it is. He conducted a metastudy of research on students who’d been pulled out of class and given individual instruction. What Bloom found is that students given one-on-one attention reliably perform two standard deviations better than their peers who stay in a regular classroom. How much of an improvement is that? Enough that a student in the middle of the pack will vault into the 98th percentile. Bloom’s findings caused a stir in education, but ultimately they didn’t significantly change the basic structure of the classroom. One-on-one instruction, after all, is insanely expensive. What country can afford one teacher per student?.....

It’s time in Oregon to provide individual students with computers, internet access and a broad range of online courses and educational materials.

Photos: Director Zhan, Lushan Botanical Gardens

Zhan Xuanhuai, Director of the Lushan Botanical Garden (here) in Jiangxi Province, China, gave an illustrated (powerpoint) lecture on 7/26/11 at the University of Oregon’s White Stag Building. He is shown in the side photo with his translator Ke Dong, Ph.D.

Lushan is a historic mountain top town/district (here) in the Yangtze River Valley. The area has a climate similar to Oregon’s, with many similar types of plants – lots of ferns, rhododendrons, azaleas, and conifers. Director Zhan is part of a three person Lushan Botanical Garden delegation now visiting Oregon. Portlander Elsa Porter, who spent her childhood years in Lushan, developed the invitation for the delegation through the Hoyt Arboretum and introduced the lecture program.

 

Graph: US Defense Budget

The Heritage Foundation published the above graph here.  Note that the current level is higher than the heights of both the Vietnam War and of the Cold War with the Soviet Union.

China owns 8% of US debt; Japan 6%

With all the public discussion on the US public debt, Thomas Oatley of the University of North Carolina posted a graph of who owns the current (12/2010) US debt. It shows that China owns 8% as the leading foreign owner, and Japan second with 6%. (See here)