Guanxi Master

Many of you who read our blog here have noticed the break in postings over the last few weeks. We have gone through some transitions here in our office and will be going through a few more over the next couple of weeks.

First, the members of our awesome writing team are going their own separate directions. This is to be expected. I have never seen a group assembled with more dynamism and flexibility, with a collective creativity that surpasses the sum of its parts. I am honored to have had these guys working with me, and I will remember the great conversations that we had for the rest of my life. However, it’s time for them to go on and do bigger and better things. Frank is going into doctoral studies, and Jason will pursue his budding career in law and public relations. This leaves me, Joe, back where it all started… Thanks guys, for a good run!

Three years ago, we founded a media company with a local partner, with backing from prominent Hollywood producers that our material would find a market in the US. We soon grew to eight people, striving tirelessly to make an innovative and international quality product. When funding fell through with the US because of the economic crisis, we figured we’d be okay by pursuing a Chinese domestic market for our media series. Boy, were we wrong! It turned out that what everyone had said about Chinese censorship, distrust of foreigners, conniving workers, and local protectionism was true.  It has been one rough ride, and I am proud of the fact that we were able to “survive” and come close to “thrive”.

Over the last year alone, we’ve run the full gamut of seeing ideas stolen by the local English language station (we did a pilot for them which they said they didn’t like, and then made a program exactly the same… without our names and our development costs), having lots of bills to local television stations go unpaid, and seeing our largest project killed by a “no-go” from officials afraid that our “interpretation of ancient history” was not based on their “official understanding”.  It’s “been real” as they say, but not “real fun”.

With that said, however, I couldn’t have paid the same amount we’ve lost for a college degree with this kind of hands-on exposure and on-the-ground training. While tough, it has been a great way to learn the ropes. With this kind of dog-eat-dog experience under my belt, going back to work in media in L.A. doesn’t even seem daunting!

As I said (Here Kitty Kitty) in a previous posting, learning to handle the realm of Chinese business takes a good humor on the part of the foreign business man, and as I said here (Living on Air), a great deal of patience.  The only problem with business is that you have to make something to survive. If you can’t do well for yourself, there’s no point. I’m starting to see why the “waidi” (immigrant worker) kids are so uptight, because they feel that they can never get ahead in this system (witness the recent tragedies at Foxconn). With the lack of business ethics, cronyism, and downright fraud that I’ve seen over here, I would say that they’re right.

Therefore, I am going to try to do some things differently. I am going to focus on my Chinese language skills again, and stop talking, writing, and hanging out so much in English. I am going to cut my expenses by doing the work myself, because I’ve found that I spend more time and money trying to get Chinese workers to re-do things than if I had just knuckled down and done it myself.

And, while I’ll keep blogging, this time I am not going to focus on being the expert analyzer, but focus on a real life struggle to duke it out as a foreigner in the intriguing field of Chinese Guanxi.