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3 episodes with Dongguan
5 episodes with Dongguan
2 episodes with Dongguan
3 episodes with Dongguan
2 episodes with Dongguan
2 episodes with Dongguan
Im chinesischen Dongguan startete heute früh die Frauen-WM mit Titelverteidigerin Bai Yulu in die diesjährige Ausgabe. Auf die Siegerin wartet neben dem Titel auch eine Tourkarte für die Profis. Apropos Tourkarten. Die werden derzeit auch bei der Q-School fleißig vergeben. Die ersten zwei Tickets wurden in Bangkok bei der Asien-Variante bereits an den Mann gebracht, zwei weitere folgen dort in dieser Woche. Morgen startet zudem auch das Turnier im Vereinigten Königreich, bei dem es in zwei Events auch noch einmal acht Tourkarten gibt. David Grace ist dabei in der Verlosung, genau wie einige deutschsprachige Akteure. Kathi und Chris blicken auf das ...Dieser Podcast wird vermarktet von der Podcastbude.www.podcastbu.de - Full-Service-Podcast-Agentur - Konzeption, Produktion, Vermarktung, Distribution und Hosting.Du möchtest deinen Podcast auch kostenlos hosten und damit Geld verdienen?Dann schaue auf www.kostenlos-hosten.de und informiere dich.Dort erhältst du alle Informationen zu unseren kostenlosen Podcast-Hosting-Angeboten. kostenlos-hosten.de ist ein Produkt der Podcastbude.
What comes after the blockbuster success of a Chinese animation? Toys and other collectible products, of course.一部中国动画电影大获成功后，随之而来的是什么？当然是相关玩具和其他收藏品。Sales of character-themed products related to the movie Ne Zha 2, the first film to gross more than $1 billion in a single market globally, have been red hot. From toys and apparel to collectible cards, demand for Ne Zha-themed promotional products is soaring, as cities across the country compete for recognition as the mythical hero's birthplace.《哪吒2》成为全球首部单一市场票房突破10亿美元的电影，与之相关的角色主题产品销量火爆。从玩具、服饰到收藏卡片，哪吒主题促销产品的需求激增，而神话英雄哪吒“故里”争夺战也在全国多地拉开帷幕。In Xiangtan, Hunan province, Hunan Sunny and Sandy Toy Manufacturing Co—the exclusive authorized manufacturer of 3D plastic food-related toys based on the film—is operating at full capacity to meet a tidal wave of demand.湖南省湘潭市的湖南桑尼森迪玩具制造有限公司作为该影片周边3D塑胶类食品玩具的独家授权生产制造商，正全力以赴投入生产以满足如潮水般涌来的需求。Yang Zhenlin, assistant to the company's chairman, said the first batch of Ne Zha-themed "blind box" toys supplied to a chain of snack stores sold out before Spring Festival, which fell on Jan 29. With a blind box, you can't see which toy figure is inside until you open it, so it's a fun surprise.公司董事长助理杨振麟表示，首批供应给某零食连锁店的哪吒主题“盲盒”玩具在1月29日春节前就已售罄。盲盒玩具在打开前无法知道里面装的是哪个角色，因此充满惊喜感。The company has produced toys, based on six main characters in the film, that sell for 11.5 yuan ($1.57) each, Yang said. More than 450,000 sets of Ne Zha-themed toys had been sold as of Monday through livestreams on Douyin, with revenue reaching 30 million yuan. That ranks first on the platform's board game and collectibles category, he said.杨振麟说，该公司生产了以影片6个主要角色为原型的玩具，每个售价11.5元人民币（1.57美元）。截至2月10日，通过抖音直播已售出45万余套哪吒主题玩具，收入达3000万元人民币，位居抖音桌游周边类产品第一。The company is also negotiating to get the intellectual property rights for two morecharacters from the film and intends to start producing those toys as well, he said.他表示，公司还在洽谈获取影片中另外两个角色的知识产权，并打算生产这些玩具。"We expected that the toys would be popular based on the success of the first movie of the franchise, but the popularity of Ne Zha 2 has far exceeded our expectations," Yang said. "We think it will be even more popular in the coming months, with sales revenue of related products reaching 200 million yuan for the year."杨振麟说：“基于第一部作品的成功，我们预料到这些玩具会受欢迎，但《哪吒2》的热度远超我们的预期。我们认为未来几个月它会更受欢迎，相关产品年销售收入将达到2亿元人民币。”The movie is expected to be a large-scale hit in overseas markets as well, so the company is preparing to sell the toys abroad, including in Southeast Asia, Japan, North America and Europe.该公司预计这部电影在海外市场也会大受欢迎，因此正准备将相关玩具销往国外，包括东南亚、日本、北美、欧洲。Sales of other products, such as limited-edition cards and badges, have also skyrocketed since the movie's release.自电影上映以来，限量版卡片和徽章等其他产品的销量也飙升。Chen Qi, general manager of Guangdong Henglitai Crafts Co in Dongguan, Guangdong province, which produces Ne Zha-themed cards, refrigerator magnets and badges, said the company made over 300,000 sets of such products in early January, and all have sold out. Workers are racing to produce more merchandise for the movie to meet public demand, he said.广东省东莞市广东衡立泰工艺品有限公司总经理陈祺介绍，该公司负责生产哪吒主题的卡片、冰箱贴、徽章，1月初生产的30万余套此类产品已全部售罄。他表示，工人们正加紧生产更多电影周边以满足公众需求。"The success of Ne Zha 2 shows that Chinese animation can compete with that of the Japanese and American giants," Chen said.“《哪吒2》的成功证明，中国动画完全能媲美日美巨头，”陈祺说。Li Baochuan, an expert in cartoon history at Hangzhou Normal University, said that derivative products are more than just merchandise. For the younger generation of consumers, they represent identity and a form of social currency.杭州师范大学动漫史料研究专家李保传表示，相关周边不仅仅是商品。对于年轻消费者来说，它们代表着身份，是一种社交货币。The remarkable sales success of the Ne Zha 2 products has also sent a positive signal to the industry, Li said.李保传说，《哪吒2》周边销量的火爆也给行业传递了积极信号。Meanwhile, several cities across China are now vying for the title of Ne Zha's birthplace, capitalizing on the film's success to boost tourism. The playful controversy has become a spectacle in itself, with some cities claiming to have "proof" of the character's origins.同时，中国多个城市正在争夺“哪吒故里”之名，想利用电影的成功来推动当地旅游业的发展。这场有趣的争议本身已成为一大看点，一些城市声称拥有哪吒起源的“证据”。On Feb 5, the first working day after the Spring Festival holiday, tourism and culture authorities in Tianjin municipality released a video claiming that Ne Zha was born in the city and went to primary school there.2月5日，即春节假期后第一个工作日，天津市文化和旅游局发布了一段视频，声称哪吒出生在天津，并在当地上过小学。The next day, Anhui authorities said that images of Ne Zha could be found all over the province's Guzhen county, with many sculptures and wall paintings of him. Shortly thereafter, authorities in Yibin, Sichuan province, announced that Ne Zha was born in its Nanguang township, and it released a list of cultural sites and landmarks inspired by the character.次日，安徽省有关部门表示，该省固镇县随处可见哪吒的形象，有很多哪吒的雕像和墙画。不久后，四川省宜宾市有关部门宣称，哪吒在该市南广镇出生，并公布了一系列受该角色启发的文化遗址和地标清单。Song Yangyang, deputy dean of the Institute for Creative Industries Technology at Renmin University of China, said the logic behind local governments competing for cultural ownership of Ne Zha is easy to understand: It generates a buzz, enhances the city's reputation and ultimately attracts tourists.中国人民大学创意产业技术研究院副院长宋洋洋表示，地方政府争抢哪吒文化归属的逻辑很好理解：它能形成热度和关注度，提升城市知名度，并最终吸引游客。But he also said he is not optimistic about the competition for so-called hometowns or birthplaces. Instead of vying for the title of hometown, he suggested focusing on adding genuine value through such things as tourism services, cuisine or other tangible products beyond toys.但他也表示，并不看好所谓家乡、出生地之争。他建议不要争夺“故里”之名，而应专注于通过旅游服务、美食或玩具之外的其他有形产品等增加真正的价值。appareln.衣服，服装derivativen.衍生物，派生物
Welcome to episode 249 of our podcast—a special holiday season bonus episode, hosted by Adrian and joined by Renaud, as they wrap up the year just before Christmas. In this festive episode, they extend their season's greetings and talk about various topics that highlight the year's end activities and the bustling nature of the holiday period, particularly contrasting the festive slowdown in the Western world with the relentless pace in China. The hosts discuss the unusual business dynamics this season, such as foreign customers visiting Dongguan for production checks despite the holidays, underscoring the commitment levels required in the manufacturing industry. A significant portion of the episode discusses the emergence of China's new visa-free transit policy. This policy, effective for citizens from 54 countries, allows for a 10-day stay in China without a visa, provided travelers are en route to a third country. Adrian and Renaud explore the implications of this development, especially for business travelers who can now conveniently manage short trips to China. The episode also revisits major industrial changes and achievements at Agilien and Sofeast throughout 2024, including expanding manufacturing capabilities, innovative prototyping methods, and enhancing logistical frameworks. This reflection offers listeners insights into the challenges and successes of firms operating within China's complex manufacturing landscape. Furthermore, the podcast teases upcoming content and interviews, providing a glimpse into what listeners can expect in 2025, including expert discussions on supply chain management and strategies to navigate tariffs effectively. We wish all listeners a very happy holiday period! Show Sections 00:00: Introduction & Holiday Greetings 02:39: Manufacturing Challenges Ahead 04:14: Visa-Free Travel Updates 10:13: Sofeast Group Changes in 2024, Shenzhen Office 12:09: Prototyping Innovations at Agilian 16:34: New Stitching Capabilities 19:32: Reviewing the Top 5 Episodes of 2024 25:31: Year-End Reflections Related content... China extends visa-free transit stays to 240 hours, adds more entry points Take a look at Agilian Technology our product engineering and contract manufacturing subsidiary (and much more) Top 10 podcast episodes from 2024: 7 Key NPI Tasks To Do Before You Take Your Product Into Production What's A Good QA Auditing & Inspection Program For New Products? Exploring Plastic Injection Molding Pilot Runs Cost Vs Quality - How Manufacturers Can Find A Balance From "Poorly made in China" to "Made with Quality in China" 10 Common Problems From Chinese Suppliers (& How You Can Deal With Them) What do the USA's May '24 China tariffs mean for importers? Near-Sourcing in Europe (+ Turkey) VS Buying from China (Feat. Fredrik Gronkvist, Productmkr.com) Handing Over To Manufacturing: Best Practices IP Protection when buying from China (Feat. Dan Harris, China Law Blog) Get in touch with us Connect with us on LinkedIn Contact us via Sofeast's contact page Subscribe to our YouTube channel Contact us on X @sofeast Prefer Facebook? Check us out on FB
Last time we spoke about the invasion of Outer Mongolia and the First Anhui-Zhili War. During the Xinhai Revolution, Outer Mongolia declared independence from the Qing Dynasty. Conflict arose between Mongolian nobles and Chinese authorities, leading to the formation of a provisional government under Jebtsundamba Khutuktu. Then the Russian civil war led to Russian encroachment of both red and white forces. Russian influence grew, particularly through Grigory Semyonov's attempt to establish a pan-Mongolian state. Duan Qirui seized the opportunity to invade Mongolia under the guise it was to thwart Bolshevism. While he did this to save face, it actually resulted in further conflict, this time with the Fengtian Clique. Wu Peifu and Zhang Zuolin combined their cliques to face Duan Qirui winning a very unexpected victory over the Anhui Clique. Duan Qirui resigned from all his posts in disgrace and now the Anhui Clique was a shadow of its former self. #99 The First Guangdong-Guangxi War Welcome to the Fall and Rise of China Podcast, I am your dutiful host Craig Watson. But, before we start I want to also remind you this podcast is only made possible through the efforts of Kings and Generals over at Youtube. Perhaps you want to learn more about the history of Asia? Kings and Generals have an assortment of episodes on history of asia and much more so go give them a look over on Youtube. So please subscribe to Kings and Generals over at Youtube and to continue helping us produce this content please check out www.patreon.com/kingsandgenerals. If you are still hungry for some more history related content, over on my channel, the Pacific War Channel where I cover the history of China and Japan from the 19th century until the end of the Pacific War. We just covered the first major war in the north, the first Anhui-Zhili War. Out of all the books and even the very few youtube videos I have seen trying to cover China's Warlord Era, typically they do First Anhui-Zhili War, then follow this up with the first Zhili-Fengtian war, second zhili-fengtian war, rarely the anti-fengtian war then suddenly everything jumps south into the Northern Expedition. The reality of China's Warlord era however, is that there really is not chronological series of events. For those statician's out there, its more like a horrifying ANOVA study, if you get the reference, we both share a certain pain haha. Multiple military wars and political wars were raging across China and they all affected other peoples and events, causing this nightmare of incoherency. For this series I am going to try my best to do it in a chronological order, and stating that we are jumping south today. Back to Yuan Shikai, in 1915 when he was planning to proclaim himself Emperor Walrus over a new dynasty, as we saw multiple provinces declared independence, some even actively rebelled. One of these provinces was Guangxi where Viceroy Lu Rongting declared an open rebellion against Yuan Shikai. Lu Rongting had been appointed governor over Guangxi after the second revolution. Yet after Cai E and Tang Jiyao unleashed the National Protection War, Lu immediately bandwagoned. Some historians suggest Lu Rongting did this because he felt Yuan Shikai was overlooking him and actively preventing him from expanding his sphere of influence into Guangdong. After the death of Yuan Shikai, the new president, Li Yuanhong appointed Lu Rongting as the governor of Guangdong, but this certainly did not sit well with Long Jiguang. Long Jiguang was the current governor of Guangdong and a supporter of Duan Qirui and the Anhui Clique. He was secretly working inline with the Anhui Clique, obeying the Beiyang government, undermining the National Protection movement in the south. When his colleagues such as Liang Qichao, Wang Chonghui and Tang Shaoyi found out they were the ones who asked president Li Yuanghong to get rid of him. Long Jiguang stated he was unwilling to resign his post, and this prompted Lu Rongting to dispatch Mo Rongxin, Ma Ji and Tan Haoming to lead a Guangxi based army to invade Guangdong to get rid of its pesky rebellious governor, or I guess better said anti-rebellious governor. Now rewinding a bit, when Zhang Xun forced Li Yuanhong to dissolve parliament, Guangdong and Guangxi both declared independence, I think for the 4th time? Hard to keep track of how many times southern provinces declare independence to be honest. When Zhang Xun restored the Manchu monarchy, this prompted Dr Sun Yat-Sen to sail south from Shanghai to Guangzhou to start a rebellion movement, because Mr. Sun is gunna do Mr. Sun stuff. Dr Sun Yat-Sen planned to rely on the power of southwestern provinces to rebel against this new tyrannical monarchy. Then in a matter of days, Zhang Xun's great restoration failed and Duan Qirui became the de facto leader over Beijing with his Anhui Clique dominating the scene in north china. Dr Sun Yat-Sen had planned for a political war, but Duan Qirui dissolved all means of doing so, now the only options were militarily. On August 25th, a meeting was held in Guangzhou where Dr Sun Yat-Sen announced he was going to launch a Northern Expedition with himself as Generalissimo. A new military government, or I guess you can call it a Junta was formed and Lu Rongting and Tang Jiyao were both appointed Marshals within it. Many armies were mobilized in Hunan, Guangdong, Yunnan and Guangxi. Respective cliques within these provinces all mobilized for their own reasons. One of these armies was commanded by Long Jiguang, though much of his military strength had been depleted during the second revolution. All he had left was 20 battalions, roughly 5000 men. There were several local militia styled armies, such as the “Fu Army” led by Li Fulin or the second Mixed Brigade of Huang Mingtang, but even with these added, Long Jiguang could not hope to face what was coming his way. The armies in Guangxi and Yunnan were better organized, better equipped and more numerous at this time. After the Junta had been created, the Beiyang government took it as a threat obviously and began to put into motion plans to destroy it. At first the governor of Chaomei, Mo Qingyu was sent with military forces to disband the Junta. He was decisively defeated by a coalition army commanded by Chen Bingkun, Shen Hognying, Lin Hu and Dr Sun Yat-Sen. After this Dr Sun Yat-Sen appointed Chen Jiongming to be the commander in chief of the Fujian and Guangdong Army. Then Dr Sun Yat-Sen, through his ally Zhu Qinglan managed to transfer command of the 20th battalion of the Guangdong Army to Chen Jiongming. Chen Jiongming took these troops and immediately attacked the Fujian governor Li Houji, occupying Longyan, Zhangzhou, Tingzhou and other areas along the Fujian, Guangdong border area. After doing this he proclaimed himself a defender of the area and began taxing the populace, being a warlord 101 basically. He established an independence base area in the eastern part of Guangdong and the southern part of Fujian, which was not cooperating with the Old Guangxi Clique. Now back to Lu Rongting. Lu Rongting was running out of allies. He had backed Duan Qirui, who was forced to give up his posts, and now Feng Guozhang and his Zhili clique were the big dogs in Beijing. Lu Rongting was unsure how to proceed, so he began publicly supporting Dr Sun Yat-Sen and the Guangzhou government. Lu Rongting then tried to dismantle the Guangzhou government through a reconciliation effort with the Beiyang government. Lu Rongting was basically turning everyone against Dr Sun Yat-Sen growing the Old Guangxi Cliques influence. Dr Sun Yat-Sen could see the paint on the wall, so he resigned from his position in May of 1918. An election was quickly held seeing Cen Chunxuan, another Old Guangxi member become president over the Guangzhou government, but in reality, Lu Rongting was pulling the strings. In the meantime, Chen Jiongming over in his area was also doing something similar by trying to negotiate a peace with Beijing. In 1918, Chen Jiongming was appointed by the Guangzhou government as the governor of Fujian province in October. Chen Jiongming set up simple government agencies, actively maintained the social order dominated by local gentry, and vigorously built Zhangzhou's urban infrastructure, reclaimed wasteland, and developed modern education and industry. During the period of protecting the law, merchants gathered in Zhangzhou and the market flourished. While he made Zhangzhou a sort of central government station, overall he was quite the anarchist in how he sought things to be done. By December, Chen Jiongming resigned stating publicly "My governorship over Fujian is in vain because we cannot feed the hungry, clothe the cold, and defend our army in battle. Fujian should be governed by Fujianese” In December of 1919, Dr Sun Yat-Sen saw Guangdong was building an army and stating publicly "Today's urgent task of saving the country is to pacify the Gui thieves first and unify the southwest" Dr Sun Yat-Sen planned to return to Guangdong to attack the Old Guangxi Clique forces. Heordered Chen Jiongming several times to send troops to help drive away the Old Guangxi Cliques, however, in his words "Chen Jiongming made no reply despite repeated calls to urge her to return to Guangdong." Zhu Zhixin, was dispatched 3 times to Zhangzhou with orders of Dr Sun Yat-sen to urge Chen Jiongming to mobilize. He wrote back to Dr Sun Yat-Sen: "Chen Jiongming's forces have exhausted all their strength and are as tired as ever. At this time, the relationship has been hurt, and it is useless to mobilize." Reading between the lines of these sorts of statements and messages, Chen Jiongming clearly had issues with Dr Sun Yat-Sens politics and did not want to get involved at the time. Thus until July of 1920 the Old Guangxi Clique was continuing to negotiate with the Zhili Clique officials controlling the Beiyang government. They agreed to help expel Duan Qirui and his Anhui goons, if the Old Guangxi clique guys would help expel Dr Sun Yat-Sen's followers in Guangdong. On July 14th however, the first Anhui-Zhili war broke out. Li Houji the governor of Fujian at the time, expressed a desire to support the Anhui clique's military and requested Guangdong forces depart southern Fujian. On July 15th, figures in the fractured Chinese navy such as Xu Shaozhen and Li Qian who supported Dr Sun Yat-Sen organized thousands of troops to fight the Old Guangxi clique. Xu Shaozhen became commander in chief and led the forces to attack Guangzhou from 5 different directions. On August 11th, the Old Guangxi clique mobilized their forces, thus beginning the Guangdong-Guangxi War or the first Yue-Gui War. The Old Guangxi Clique had roughly 70,000 troops, but they were by no means a unified force. There were the combined forces of Guizhou Warlords, Yunnan Warlords and Zhejiang Warlords. The Guizhou forces were led by Liu Zhilu, the Zhejiang forces were led by Lu Gongwang and the Yunnan forces were led by Fang Sengtao. The Guizhou would attack Guangdong with the Zhejiang army on their right and the Yunnanese to their left. Guangdong meanwhile would have roughly 25,000 troops led surprising by Chen Jiongming who had a change of heart, he was also aided by Xu Chongzhi and Hong Zhaolin. Chen Jiongming on the 12th of August had suddenly sworn an oath at the Zhangzhou park condemning Mo Rongxin, here is the statement “Ever since Mo Rongxin and others seized control of Guangdong, they have harmed our people in every possible way. The will of the people will be destroyed, the people killed, and expelled...to the extent that they condone the robbers and beggars' soldiers and harass Yan Lu, which is even more difficult to describe. The pain our people suffered from the loss of their provinces was a hundred times greater than the pain suffered by Korea, Annan, and Poland. They are naturally thieves, and seeking money and killing people is their usual skill. Recently, the bandits stationed in Hunan and Guangxi moved into Fujian to oppress our army. Their only intention is to hate the Cantonese people and act as if they are an enemy country... The Cantonese army today is fighting for the hometown and the country, and all its factions and other issues are unknown. It is to swear an oath with tears and to tell each other sincerely. My fellow countrymen, please take this opportunity to learn from me! All officers and men of the Guangdong army kowtowed together”. Chen Jiongming would also go on to accuse Mo Rongxin of "The Gui regards Guangdong as a conquered territory... Now that we are facing heavy troops, it is really unbearable. Although I am weak, I am willing to fight to the death" On August 16th the main bulk of the Old Guangxi clique forces had not yet reached the Guangdong-Fujian border, thus Chen Jiongming set up his headquarters at Zhang Ji Villages, leaving 20 battalions behind in Zhangzhou as a reserve. Chen Jiongming then took personal commander of the central forces, dispatched armies led by Li Bingrong, Deng Benyin, Luo Shaoxiong, Xiong Lue, amongst other officers to attack Raoping and Chao'an from the direction of Pinghe. After this they would break through Fengshun and Zijin, coordinating with a left and right wing. Meanwhile the left wing of Hong Zhaolin and Liang Hongkai led forces from Yunxiao and Zhao'an to attack Chenghai and Shantou while Xu Chongzhi commanding the right wing attacked Jioaling and Shantou from Shanghang. In all around 82 battalions were engaging two major fronts. The eastern part of Guangdong had been under Guizhou warlord rule for over 4 years when suddenly Chen Jiongming called “the Cantonese people to govern Guangdong and implement democratic politics”. The people there rallied to him, and this would have a profound effect on the war there. The left Guangdong army that departed Zhao'an quickly crossed the border where they defeated troops under Liu Zhilu, the commander of a major Guangxi army. After defeated him they stormed the garrisons at Chaomei, Huanggang, Chenghai and were approaching Shantou. On the 19th, Yu Yingyang, the commander of an artillery battalion under Liu Zhilu had already seized Shantou and declared independence and his desire to defect to the Guangdong army. Honestly this is how most battles worked in the warlord era, subordinate officers looking to dodge a real battle by switching sides, typically selling out their bosses in the process. This prompted Liu Zhilu to flee for Guangzhou. The next day, Deng Keng led the left Guangdong army to capture Shantou and soon they were pursuing the Guizhou forces towards Jieyang and Chaoyang. Meanwhile the right Guangdong army crossed the border from Yongding to attack Dabu Sanheba. Dabu Sanheba fell on the 16th, and it was followed the next day by Jiaoling. On the 18th an entire day of fighting was seen near Meixian where forces under Liu Daqing, commander of a Guangxi army and the governor of Huizhou were defeated. Meixian was captured on the 19th and Xingning on the 20th. After this the forward Guangxi army had collapsed allowing the Guangdong army to redirect itself towards Longchun and Heyuan. The army in Zhejiang watched the situation, but kept out of it while the Yunnan forces simply began a withdrawal as it seemed clear the Guangdong forces were likely to win. Again, the Guangdong forces were outnumbered perhaps 3 to 1, but these types of battles and lesser wars were won and done by perspectives. Ye Ju was leading a central thrust for the Guangdong forces, quickly taking Chao'an and Raoping. As he advanced towards Gaopo and Fengshun, there he encountered real resistance. 6 to 7000 men under the Guizhou clique General Zhuo Guiting stood firm, fighting Ye Ju for two days. Then the left wing of the Guangdong army captured Shantou and the right wing the upper reaches of the Dongjiang river, prompting General Zhuo Guiting to order a retreat. As his men fled, the reached the vicinity of Shigongshen where they were intercepted by Yang Kunru leading another Guangdong army who assailed them a long way.On the 26th the Chaomei area in eastern Guangdong was captured. On the same day, Dr Sun Yat Sen proclaimed "The Guangdong army attacked the thieves and recovered Chao and Mei in a few days. The speed of arriving here really broke the courage of the Gui thieves." This caused a panic in Lu Rongting who deployed troops from Guangxi to reinforce the front. The Guangxi army mobilized the first army of Ma Ji, 2nd army of Lin Hu, elements of the 3rd army of Shen Hongying, the 1st Brigade Marine Corps of Li Genyuang and other brigades to the front lines which were now at Heyuan, Boluo and Huiyang. The Guangdong forces continued their march seeing the right wing take Laolong on September 2nd. The battle along the front line was brutal and lost until October. Wei Bangping and Li Fulin representing the Guangzhou government attempted peace talks with the Guangdong forces, as the situation was looking increasingly bad for the Old Guangxi clique. The Old Guangxi clique dispatched police forces to crack down on newspapers, banning numerous publications that were critical of their war efforts. On the 13th of september all newspaper in Guangzhou ceased publications and any newspapers coming over from Hong Kong were confiscated for “publishing false military reports and subverting operations”. Meanwhile, starting in early September the Guangdong forces began working alongside the Cantonese people chanting slogans like “Cantonese people save yourselves, Cantonese people govern Guangdong”. Heyuan at the frontlines was the gateway to Huizhou. To defend Huizhou, the Guizhou forces had unleashed a month-long bloody battle. To help the war effort, Dr Sun Yat-Sen sent word to Zhu Zhixun over at the Pearl River Estuary, to mobilize the troops garrisoning the Human Fortress to rebel against the Guangxi menace. On September 16th, Zhu Zhixin managed to instigate a small rebellion. The commander of the Human Fortress garrison, Qiu Weinan declared independence from Guangxi, and during the mayhem that soon ensued he was killed by a stray bullet. Despite this, the Guangdong army had won a series of victories, managing to launch a province wide war to expel the Guangxi menace. Civilian forces were uprising against them, in late september Wei Bangping, the director of Police forces for Guangdong and Li Fulin the garrison commander of Guanghui who also happened to be a former Old Guangxi clique member, covertly moved troops from Xiangshen, Foshan and other places to the south bank of the pearl river in Guangzhou. There they declared the independence of Henan on the 26th. All the inland riverway warships and railway lines were taken and soon a letter was sent to Mo Rongxin urging him to quote "Return the power of governing Guangdong Province to the Cantonese people, and lead his troops back to Guangxi to avoid military disasters." Then Wei Bangping and Li Fulin led forces into Sanshui taking control over the vital Guangsan Road, effectively cutting off the Guizhou Army's supply line going from Xijiang to Guangzhou. This was a heavy blow to the Guizhou Army's rear and ability to continue the war effort. During this same time, Huang Mingtang the commander in chief of the 4th army seized Leizhou; Zheng Runqi the deputy commander under Wei Bangpings 5th Army raised a new force in Xiangshan and Chen Dechun the superintendent of Qingxiang and deputy commander of the 2nd army declared independence at Wuyi. From here Taishan, Xinhui, Kaiping, Enping, and Chixi fell under civilian army control. Qujiang, Yingde, and Qingyuan in Beijiang, Gaoyao, Xingxing and other counties in Xijiang, and Qinlian and Qiongya in the south all declared independence one after another. Within the dire circumstances, Mo Rongxin convened a meeting of over 30 representatives from the Guangzhou Chamber of commerce, the Provincial Council and the Public security association on October 2nd. The representatives proposed Mo Rongxin step down so Tang Yanguang could take his position and for the war to end as quickly as possible. On October 14th of 1920, all officers of the Guangzhou Navy held a closed door meeting in Haungpu Park where they unanimously opposed a new effort brought forward by Lin Baoyi, the commander in Chief of their navy to unify the northern and southern navies. On the 19th workers of the Guangdong-Hankou railway then launched a general strike, armed with pistols and explosives which they used against the Guizhou Army forces trying to use railway lines. Over 30 schools in Guangzhou then formed a mass meeting about the entire debacle and what they should do. The principals of the schools proclaimed "if Mr. Mo doesnt leave Guangdong, classes will not be held in each school." Back on the frontlines, on October the 16th the Guangdong right army finally captured Heyuan, opening the way to Huizhou. Simultaneously the central and left Guangdong armies captured Yong'an, Xiangpu, Lantang, Hengli and Sanduozhu effectively pressing the battle towards Huizhou. Now Huizhou is surrounded by mountains and rivers, making it quite easy to defend. Mo Rongxin concentrated the strength of his 40th Battalion there. At this point the commander of the 2nd army, Xu Chongzhi fell ill, prompting Chen Jiongming to replace him with a man named Chiang Kai-Shek. Chiang Kai-shek joined up in the middle army to begin a siege of Huizhou. The Guangdong forces would captured Huizhou by the 22nd. The very next day, Chen Jiongming held a meeting within the city and the commanders decided to march upon Zengcheng, Shillong and Dongguan in three directions. After this they would attack Guangzhou to finish the campaign. During this crisis the populations of Bao'an, Sanshui and other nearby cities began an uprising, lashing out against the Guizhou army. As Dr Sun Yat-Sen recalled "The strong people raised their flags and responded, while the old and weak people welcomed them. This is quite the charm of the Revolution of 1911." Within Guangzhou, civilians launched waves of worker strikes, school strikes and general strikes. Mo Rongxin had run out of forces to fall upon, it was all falling apart. On the 24th, Lu Rongting, acting in the name of the president of the Guangzhou government declared the dissolution of the government and the independence of Guangdong and Guangxi. The president of the Guangzhou government, Cen Chunxuan fled for Shanghai. On the 25th of October, Shilon was taken, the next day Dongguan fell and finally seeing the situation was over, Mo Rongxin canceled the supposed Guangdong independence movement. On the 27th Zengcheng fell as Mo Rongxin had the Guangzhou Arsenal blown up and the governors seal was given to Tang Tingguang as he fled the city. Yang Yongtai, the governor of Guangdong province resigned via a telegram, handing his governor seal to Wei Bangping. On the 28th, Jiongming deployed forces to Guangzhou and around the areas of Shougouling and Baiyun to try and catch fleeing enemies. The three Guangdong armies gathered around Guangzhou, launching a general offensive together on the 29th. Mo Rongxin after fleecing after department he could fled with 10,000 remaining loyal troops west as Guangzhou was finally captured. On the 30th, Wang Jingwei and Liao Zhongkai sent telegrams to Dr Sun Yat-Sen stating they were going to appoint Chen Jiongming as the governor of Guangdong; to remove Lin Baoyi as commander in chief of the navy and replace him with Tang Yanguang. On November 1st, Chen Jiongming became the governor of Guangdong and remained the commander in chief of the Guangdong Army. On november 2nd, Chen Jiongming liberated the Guangzhou-Kowloon Railway, denying its use to Cen Chunxuan and Mo Rongxin. The same day, Xu Chongzhi paraded through Guangzhou to raise morale for the citizenry, newspapers reported "the citizens rejoiced and rushed to set off cannons. Looking at all the situations, there was a sign of great joy." On the 6th, Tang Tingguang handed the governor seal to Chen Jiongming and sent a telegram dismissing the governor of Guangdong. On the 10th, Chen Jiongming was officially elected governor over Guangdong. Yet the enemy was still not fully defeated. The Guizhou army was retreating along the Xijiang River, where they performed a scorched earth policy, burning and looting every town they came by along the river. They also set up outposts along the Xijiang and Beijing rivers to prevent the Guangdong army from following. To rid the province of the nuisance, Chen Jiongming reorganized the entire Guangdong Army into 5 armies. The 1st army was personally commanded by Chen Jiongming who also acted as commander in chief; the 2nd army went back to Xu Chongzhi, the 3rd to Hong Zhaolin, the 4th to Li Fulin and the 5th to Wei Bangping. After resupplying, the Guangdong army marched west into two large groups to pursue the enemy to Guangxi. When the Guangdong forces entered Guangzhou, the Guizhou army first retreated to Zhaoqing. Because Wei Bangping and Li Fulin seized control over the Guangsan route, the Guangxi Army could only retreat from the Guangdong-Han Road. While under attack, the Guizhou Army divided its self into two groupsl one led by Ma Ji and Shen Hongying who retreated north along the Yua-Han road, the other led by Lin Hu and Han Caifeng headed further south. The Guangdong army pursued their enemy over both land and river, seizing Zhaoqing on the 15th. By the 21st, Lu Rongting ordered all forces still in Guangdong to return swiftly into Guangxi. This effectively was the end of the Guangdong-Guangxi war. On November 28th, Dr Sun Yat-sen returned to Guangzhou from Shanghai via Hong Kong and announced the reorganization of the military government. Overall what would be the first Guangdong-Guangxi war had ended the old Guangxi Clique. The Old Guangxi clique was not down for the count, but they had severely lost face. Guangxi province was not the most developed one in China, it made it very difficult to raise funds to keep the army going. Lu Rongtings ability to control and influence the Old Guangxi Clique began to dwindle. It would only force him and others to perform an identical war against Guangdong in 1921, in desperation to maintain their power. I would like to take this time to remind you all that this podcast is only made possible through the efforts of Kings and Generals over at Youtube. Please go subscribe to Kings and Generals over at Youtube and to continue helping us produce this content please check out www.patreon.com/kingsandgenerals. If you are still hungry after that, give my personal channel a look over at The Pacific War Channel at Youtube, it would mean a lot to me. In the grand scheme of things, it was another drop in the bucket, yet it was extremely representative of the regular ongoing of China's warlord era. Wherever you looked from 1918-1928, regional warlords fought petty wars to control strategic regions, simply to further exert their own power. For the Old Guangxi Clique it was a bitter lesson, not that they learnt from it though.
La producción en China se enfoca cada vez más en productos de energía limpia como paneles solares, baterías de litio y autos eléctricos. Pero los trabajadores que se dedicaban a la producción industrial más tradicional se están viendo afectados.
Katie Adie presents dispatches from Armenia, India, China, Belgium and the Middle East.The flight of more than 100,000 Armenians from Nagorno-Karabakh last year, after a rapid offensive by Azerbaijan, quickly faded from news headlines. Tim Whewell remembers how the self-declared republic first emerged, as the Soviet Union was in its last throes, and reflects on how nations are born, and re-buried.More than a billion Indians are heading to the polls over the next six weeks to vote in a general election. Prime Minister Narendra Modi's vision of a 'digital India' has been a policy priority during his leadership - but to what extent are the less developed parts of the country on board and online? James Coomarasamy visits a village in Karnataka.The Chinese government is focused on green growth, providing subsidies for the manufacture of solar panels and electric vehicles. Yet in some cities, factory workers have been laid off and fear being left behind. Laura Bicker reports from the once bustling manufacturing city of Dongguan.The Royal Museum for Central Africa in Belgium was originally built to showcase artefacts from the country's former colony, Congo. Today, visitors to the museum are encouraged to reflect on the impact of Belgium's colonization, finds Beth Timmins.Reporters always carry some kind of baggage with them when they head off to cover a story. It was on a recent deployment that the BBC's middle east analyst Sebastian Usher suddenly noticed that the often unwanted companion that seemingly always accompanied him on trips abroad… had suddenly gone missing.Series Producer: Serena Tarling Editor: Richard Fenton-Smith Production Coordinator: Katie Morrison
MONEY FM 89.3 - Prime Time with Howie Lim, Bernard Lim & Finance Presenter JP Ong
Luxury hotels provide an experience unlike any other — one where exceptional service meets extraordinary amenities in an environment crafted for pure indulgence. But how does design play a part in that experience? We find out from the mastermind behind luxury hotels around all around the world, from W Mina Seyahi in Dubai, Fullerton Hotel Ocean Park in Hong Kong, the JW Marriott Khao Lak in Thailand, and Roku Kyoto in Japan, as well as Six Senses Kyoto. Also hotly anticipated is Banyan Tree in Dongguan, China, and the NEOM Morgans Original in Saudi Arabia. Clint Nagata, Founder and Creative Partner, BLINK Design Group shares his insights. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
(Note: next podcast September 8th!) This podcast: Best Hydrogen ETFs And Stocks. Plus… includes these articles: “7 Hydrogen Stocks You Better Be Buying on Each and every Dip”; “3 Alternative Energy Stocks With Multibagger Potential”; “Benefits of Sustainable Investing: 3 Companies Leading The Way”; and “15 Biggest Green Tech Companies in the World.” Transcript & Links, Episode 112, August 11, 2023 Hello, Ron Robins here. Now before I begin, I want to mention that I'm taking a one-episode break so my next podcast after this one will be September 8th. So, welcome to this podcast episode 112 titled “Best Hydrogen ETFs And Stocks. Plus…” It's presented by Investing for the Soul. Investingforthesoul.com is your site for vital global ethical and sustainable investing mentoring, news, commentary, information, and resources. And look at my newly totally revised website at investingforthesoul.com! Tell me what you think. Now, remember that you can find a full transcript, and links to content – including stock symbols and bonus material – on this episode's podcast page located at investingforthesoul.com/podcasts. Also, a reminder. I do not evaluate any of the stocks or funds mentioned in these podcasts, nor do I receive any compensation from anyone covered in these podcasts. Furthermore, I will reveal to you any personal investments I have in the investments mentioned herein. Additionally, quotes about individual companies are brief. Please go to this podcast's webpage for links to the actual articles for more company and stock information. Also, some companies might be covered more than once and there are also 4 article links below that time didn't allow me to review them here. ------------------------------------------------------------- 1. Best Hydrogen ETFs And Stocks. Plus… Today, I'm starting with the article 7 Hydrogen Stocks You Better Be Buying on Each and Every Dip, by Ian Cooper, on investorplace.com. Here's some of what Mr. Cooper says about his picks. “1) Global X Hydrogen ETF (NASDAQ:HYDR) It's up to $10 a share and could test $12 a share, all because of the growing demand for hydrogen… as I noted on July 17, with an expense ratio of 0.50%, this one invests in companies involved in all aspects of hydrogen production, distribution and use. 2) ALPS Clean Energy ETF (NYSEARCA:ACES). With an expense ratio of 0.55%, the ETF offers diversification and exposure to companies involved with renewables and clean technology… While it's finding resistance above $50, eventually I'd like to see it test $60 a share again soon. 3) Defiance Next Gen H2 ETF (NYSEARCA:HDRO). With an expense ratio of 0.30%, the ETF invests in companies that generate at least 50% of their revenue from involvement with hydrogen-based energy sources, fuel cell technologies and industrial gases. While it's been volatile, it has a strong history of bouncing back from excessively oversold conditions. 4) Air Products & Chemicals (NYSE:APD) Owns more than 100 hydrogen plants around the world and is involved in more than 250 projects. Air Products & Chemicals [has] a yield of 2.32%. The company is also working on a $7 billion hydrogen joint venture in Saudi Arabia. 5) Bloom Energy (NYSE:BE) Is another one of the hot ‘must own' hydrogen stocks… Analysts at RBC Capital are also bullish… the firm just initiated coverage with an outperform rating with a price target of $24 a share. 6) Plug Power (NASDAQ:PLUG) Has traded essentially flat this year, but it's still a solid long-term bet on hydrogen… Northland Securities analysts just upgraded the stock to ‘outperform' from ‘market perform' with a price target of $22 a share. 7) Fusion Fuel Green (NASDAQ:HTOO) Is still a pre-revenue company, but it has some impressive contracts. For one, it signed a 10-year offtake contract with European developer Hydrogen Ventures for 30 tons of green hydrogen per year.'' End quotes. ------------------------------------------------------------- 2. Best Hydrogen ETFs And Stocks. Plus… Now continuing with the alternative energy theme is this piece titled 3 Alternative Energy Stocks With Multibagger Potential. It's by Faisal Humayun and found on investorplace.com. Mr. Humayun includes these points about his picks. “1) Plug Power (NASDAQ:PLUG) PLUG stock has trended lower in the last 12 months and it's a golden opportunity for long-term investors to accumulate. With the company providing end-to-end solutions in the hydrogen economy, the growth visibility is robust… With significant expansion plans, revenue is likely to increase to $5 billion in 2026 and further to $20 billion by 2030… I believe that PLUG stock is poised for multi-bagger returns. 2) First Solar (NASDAQ:FSLR) stock has surged by 135% in the last 12 months. However, considering the growth momentum, First Solar stock remains undervalued at a forward price-earnings ratio of 27.1. 3) Enphase Energy (NASDAQ:ENPH) stock has been trending lower and I see this downside as a good accumulation opportunity. At a forward price-earnings ratio of 30.5, the growth stock looks attractive with an investment horizon of five years… Enphase identifies itself as the world's leading supplier of microinverter-based solar-plus-storage systems.” End quotes. ------------------------------------------------------------- Leading Sustainable Agricultural Related Stocks Many investors wonder what sustainable agricultural-related stocks there might be. Well, this article is for you. It's titled Benefits of Sustainable Investing: 3 Companies Leading The Way by Shoshana Weizenblut on finextra.com. Now a few comments by Ms. Weizenblut on her picks. “1) AGCO: Advancing Agricultural Sustainability AGCO integrates sustainability into its core business strategy, emphasizing innovation and technology to make agriculture more efficient, productive, and environmentally friendly. For instance, AGCO's Fendt Vario tractors leverage fuel-efficient designs and advanced technology to reduce environmental impact. The company's Precision Planting solutions help farmers optimize planting and yield, thereby minimizing waste and enhancing food security. 2) ICL Group: Promoting Sustainable Agriculture and Nutrition ICL Group, a leading global specialty minerals company, and one of the largest fertilizer manufacturers in the world, offers another attractive opportunity for sustainable investment. ICL's operations center around producing a sustainable food supply, focusing on soil health, plant nutrition, and food quality. ICL's innovative fertilizers are designed to increase crop yields while decreasing the environmental footprint. They are advancing Controlled Release Fertilizers (CRFs) and Water-Soluble Fertilizers (WSFs), which help maximize nutrient uptake and reduce nutrient leaching, thus protecting water sources. Furthermore, ICL's commitment to recycling industrial by-products into useful resources, such as phosphate, magnesium, and bromine among others, illustrates their dedication to a circular economy and resource efficiency. 3) John Deere (really Deere & Co): Pioneering Precision Agriculture John Deere, a familiar name in agricultural machinery, has been pushing boundaries to make farming sustainable and efficient. The company's focus on innovations to improve machinery efficiency and promote agriculture makes it a promising prospect for sustainable investors. John Deere's smart farming technologies, such as precision ag technology, allow farmers to utilize resources more effectively. This technology involves the use of GPS and data analytics to optimize crop planting, irrigation, and harvesting, reducing waste and environmental impact. Furthermore, John Deere's advancements in electric and autonomous farming machinery reflect their commitment to reducing emissions and promoting sustainability.” End quotes. ------------------------------------------------------------- 15 Biggest Green Tech Companies in the World And now for your interest and which you might want to investigate are the 15 Biggest Green Tech Companies in the World. It's by Afifa Mushtaque and found on finance.yahoo.com. Here's some of what Ms. Mushtaque says about these companies. “To list the biggest green tech companies in the world, we targeted pure play companies in green technologies and made a list of 20 such companies. Out of those, the 15 companies with highest annual revenue in 2022 were selected and have been ranked in ascending order of high revenue… 15. Ormat Technologies, Inc (NYSE:ORA) Annual Revenue: $734.16M Ormat Technologies, Inc… specializes in providing alternative and renewable geothermal energy technology. With over 190 power plants constructed and 3,200 MW installed, it owns and operates 933 MW of geothermal and recovered energy-based power plants as of January 2021. 14. Bloom Energy Corp (NYSE:BE) Annual Revenue: $1.20B Bloom Energy Corp… is known for manufacturing solid oxide fuel cells that generate on-site electricity… Benefiting from government incentives for green energy, the company has installed approximately 600 megawatts worth of fuel cells as of 2020. 13. TPI Composites Inc. (NYSE:TPIC) Annual Revenue: $1.52B TPI Composites Inc. is the largest U.S-based independent manufacturer of composite wind blades, serving global wind turbine manufacturers. 12. EDP Renováveis (EDPR) Annual Revenue: $2.21B EDP Renováveis is a renewable energy company based in Madrid, Spain. It was established in 2007 as part of Energias de Portugal (EDP Group) and operates wind and solar power plants in 13 international markets. EDPR is the world's fourth-largest wind energy generator. 11. Sunrun, Inc (NASDAQ:RUN) Annual Revenue: $2.32B Sunrun Inc. … is an American provider of residential photovoltaic systems and battery energy storage products. 10. Enphase Energy Inc (NASDAQ:ENPH) Annual Revenue: $2.33B Enphase Energy… [produces] solar micro-inverters, battery storage, and EV charging stations for residential customers worldwide, shipping over 63 million microinverters to over 145 countries. 9. First Solar Inc (NASDAQ:FSLR) Annual Revenue: $2.62B First Solar, is an American solar panel manufacturer and utility-scale PV power plant provider. They use rigid thin-film modules with cadmium telluride (CdTe) semiconductor. 8. SolarEdge Technologies Inc (NASDAQ:SEDG) Annual Revenue: $3.11B SolarEdge Technologies Inc. … is the pioneer of utilizing DC optimized inverter systems and commercialized Power Optimizers. These devices enable module-level maximum power point tracking (MPPT) for solar photovoltaic systems to improve energy production compared to traditional central inverters. 7. Daqo New Energy Corp (NYSE:DQ) Annual Revenue: $4.61B Daqo New Energy Corp. is a Chinese company that manufactures monocrystalline and polysilicon used in solar photovoltaic systems. They operate a manufacturing facility in Shihezi, in the Xinjiang Province of China… Daqo New Energy Corp is one of the most economical producers of high-purity polysilicon for the solar PV industry. 6. Vestas Wind Systems A/S (VWS.CO) Annual Revenue: $14.49B Vestas Wind Systems AS is a global leader in sustainable energy solutions that specializes in designing, manufacturing, installing, and servicing wind turbines worldwide. With over 166 GW of wind turbines in 88 countries, they have the largest wind power installation globally. 5. Xinyi Solar Holdings Limited (0968.HK) Annual Revenue: $17.69B Xinyi Solar Holdings Limited… is the world's largest solar cover glass producer with a 30% market share. It is headquartered in Dongguan and listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange since December 2013. 4. NextEra Energy, Inc (NYSE:NEE) Annual Revenue: $20.98B NextEra Energy, Inc is the world's largest utility company with a market capitalization over $100 billion, based in America. They lead the industry by generating more wind and solar energy than any other company globally. 3. NRG Energy Inc (NYSE:NRG) Annual Revenue: $31.54B NRG Energy, Inc. … is a Texas-based American energy company… NRG is engaged in energy generation and retail electricity and offers a diverse portfolio including natural gas, coal, oil, nuclear, wind, utility-scale, and distributed solar generation. 2. Tesla Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) Annual Revenue: $81.46B Tesla, Inc. … designs and manufactures electric vehicles, stationary battery energy storage systems, solar panels, and related products and services. As of 2023, it is the world's most valuable automaker that leads the battery electric vehicle market with an 18% share in 2022. 1. JinkoSolar Holding Co Ltd (NYSE:JKS) Annual Revenue: $83.53B JinkoSolar Holding Co … is a Shanghai-based solar panel manufacturer… It went public on the NYSE in 2010. As a member of the Silicon Module Super League, JinkoSolar Holding Co Ltd distributes solar products to utility, commercial, and residential customers in multiple countries.” End quotes. ------------------------------------------------------------- Other Honorable Mentions – not in any order. 1) Title: 3 Clean Energy Stocks Set to Beat Q2 Earnings Estimates on nasdaq.com. By Aparajita Dutta. 2) Title: 5 Best Energy ETFs: Top Oil, Gas and Renewable Energy Funds on insidermonkey.com. By Hamna Asim. 3) Title: Better High-Yield High-Growth Renewable Energy Buy: Hannon Armstrong Or NextEra? (HASI) on seekingalpha.com. By Samuel Smith. 4) Title: The Ultimate Guide to Vegi ETF: Investing in Vegetarian and Vegan-Related Companies on nnn.ng. By NNN. ------------------------------------------------------------- Ending Comment Well, these are my top news stories with their stock and fund tips -- for this podcast titled: “Best Hydrogen ETFs And Stocks. Plus…” Now, please be sure to click the like and subscribe buttons on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, or wherever you download or listen to this podcast. That helps bring these podcasts to others like you. And please click the share buttons to share this podcast with your friends and family. Let's promote ethical and sustainable investing as a force for hope and prosperity in these very troubled times! Contact me if you have any questions. Thank you for listening. Now, as I said earlier, I'm taking a one-episode break so I'll talk to you next on September 8th. And, again, please look at my new totally revised website at investingforthesoul.com! Tell me what you think! Bye for now. © 2023 Ron Robins, Investing for the Soul
O gaúcho Mateus Martins vive na China há mais de 15 anos e aos poucos se tornou uma celebridade na região de Guangdong, ao norte de Hong Kong. Aproveitando a paixão pelo futebol do presidente chinês, Xi Jinping, que impôs a modalidade nas escolas do país desde que chegou ao poder, o brasileiro adotou um método de ensino do esporte que já formou algumas das estrelas do gramado. Silvano Mendes, enviado especial da RFI a Guangzhou (China)Em um clima de festa com ares patrióticos, centenas de crianças se reúnem em fila indiana, balançando bandeiras no gramado de uma escola de Guangzhou, capital da província chinesa de Guangdong (Cantão). Apesar da chuva fina e do dia cinzento, cada grupo, que representa um estabelecimento de ensino da região, faz sua coreografia diante de uma mesa de personalidades, misturando movimentos acrobáticos, artes marciais e passes de bola.Como tudo na China, um simples evento escolar logo se torna uma superprodução. A bandeira chinesa é hasteada com pompa de festa nacional, as equipes da televisão local filmam tudo e até drones são usados para não perder nenhum lance, principalmente a performance da estrela do programa: o brasileiro Mateus Martins.Dono de uma escolinha de futebol e bastante presente na mídia local, o gaúcho fala chinês fluentemente e brinca com todos por onde passa. “Sou conhecido praticamente como um chinês pelos quase 16 anos que vivo aqui”, lança o gaúcho. “Meu nome em chinês é Martinsê e a gente trabalha com a associação de futebol do Estado, junto com outros clubes de futebol, em parcerias com escolas, passando um pouco da alegria do nosso futebol brasileiro. Passando um pouco dos nossos segredos e de como o esporte, sem muita pressão, pode ser um instrumento de motivação que pode mudar a vida das pessoas.”No evento de Guangzhou, Mateus faz embaixadinhas ao som de Shakira, chama as crianças para participar no palco, e cria um verdadeiro clima de festa. Os pequenos chineses deliram quando o brasileiro vai até o gramado, brinca com a bola e é logo cercado pelas centenas de meninos e meninas. No final, o gaúcho, que também atuou como comentador esportivo na televisão local durante a Copa do Mundo do Catar, distribui autógrafos, confirmando a sua popularidade.Segunda chance na carreiraAo contrário de muitos jogadores que fizeram carreira no exterior, Mateus chegou na China sem pretensões de atuar nos gramados. Quando se mudou para a Ásia para viver com o irmão, que já morava em Dongguan, uma das cidades com o maior número de brasileiros na China, ele estava deixando a carreira discreta de jogador que havia começado no Brasil, quando passou principalmente por times regionais de futebol e futsal. A ideia com a mudança de país era trabalhar na indústria calçadista, assim como muitos dos compatriotas que viviam na época na região. Mas logo a paixão pelo futebol falou mais alto e ele começou a jogar em times locais.Em pouco tempo o estilo do brasileiro conquistou os chineses e ele abriu sua própria escola, aproveitando um evento político que, indiretamente, mudou sua vida: a chegada de Xi Jinping ao poder, em 2013. O presidente nunca escondeu ser fanático por futebol e, partir de 2015, tornou a modalidade obrigatória nas escolas do país.“Foi um divisor de águas”, resume Mateus. Segundo ele, até então o esporte era visto como muito violento para ser praticado por crianças. “Eles diziam que preferiam colocar uma rede no meio da quadra e deixar os alunos jogando peteca para que ninguém se machucasse”, relembra. “Houve uma quebra desse paradigma”, diz o gaúcho, que começou a ser contactado por escolas para implementar um método de ensino. Mas o segredo do sucesso de Mateus é a maneira como ele ensina o futebol, visto antes de mais nada como uma forma de lazer, em um país onde a produtividade e a exigência são a regra. “O sistema chinês é muito rígido e ensina as crianças com muita disciplina, com muita pressão. E eu quis trazer uma maneira diferente de passar essa didática, com alegria, fazendo com que as crianças aprendessem enquanto brincam e brincassem enquanto aprendem. O nosso slogan aqui é o happy football”, explica."Crianças de apartamento"Um dos aspectos do método do gaúcho é a vontade de melhorar as condições físicas e motoras dos alunos antes mesmo de começar a jogar. “Chamamos os asiáticos de ‘crianças de apartamento', pois nunca subiram em uma árvore, estão só ligados em iPad, iPhone, e estão com déficit de coordenação motora. Elas chegam aqui sem saber correr. Não conseguem fazer um zigzag. E nós, brasileiros, já temos essa base. A gente passa a vida jogando bola, chutando qualquer coisa. Essa coordenação motora a gente já tem”, afirma Mateus, que começa as aulas sem bola, até que os alunos consigam se movimentar corretamente em campo.Mas foi principalmente a dimensão afetiva e descontraída que conquistou os chineses, que solicitam o brasileiro para atuar em escolas e associações em toda a região. “Estou ensinando os chineses a maneira que os brasileiros gostam do futebol, que é com muito amor”, diz Mateus. “Além disso, eu gosto de falar para as crianças que no começo elas não precisam ser melhores que suas coleguinhas. Elas têm que ser melhor do que elas próprias. E, depois, com mais tempo, desenvolvendo as suas aptidões, a gente consegue, tendo uma base, ensinar para eles algumas coisas ligadas a quem realmente quer o tem a pretensão de ser um jogador de futebol.”E o método do gaúcho deu certo. A tal ponto que alguns dos alunos de Mateus integraram times profissionais na China e no exterior e hoje técnicos chineses já agradecem o brasileiro que treinou alguns de seus jovens talentos.
Dongguan, na província chinesa de Guangdong, foi durante muito tempo um dos maiores redutos de brasileiros no país asiático. A comunidade, composta principalmente por trabalhadores do setor calçadista do sul do Brasil, chegou a ter quase 5 mil pessoas. Muitos foram embora durante a pandemia de Covid-19, mas também por razões econômicas. Porém, eles ainda são os moradores estrangeiros mais numerosos da cidade, atrás apenas dos coreanos, e implementaram alguns costumes entre os chineses. Silvano Mendes, enviado especial da RFI a DongguanQuem entra na escola Wisdom, localizada em uma rua arborizada de Dongguan, não sabe se está na China ou no Brasil. Nas salas de aula, que acolhem crianças e adolescentes de todas as idades, o chinês e o português se misturam, com algumas pitadas de inglês, e as professoras preservam as tradições das escolas do Brasil, celebrando festa junina e até o Dia do Gaúcho. A escola Wisdom é apenas um exemplo da presença brasileira nesta cidade da província chinesa de Guangdong (Cantão). Dongguan começou a atrair imigrantes do Brasil na década de 1990, quando muitas fábricas de calçados se instalaram nessa dinâmica zona industrial. As empresas, que produziam sapatos na região gaúcha do Vale dos Sinos, escolheram a Ásia em busca de mão de obra mais barata. Mas logo se deram conta que a experiência dos técnicos brasileiros faria a diferença, e muitos dos empregados das fábricas do sul do Brasil foram contratados para ensinar aos chineses como fazer sapatos de qualidade.Foi assim que, aos poucos, uma verdadeira comunidade verde-amarela surgiu em Dongguan e chegou a alcançar um núcleo de 5 mil brasileiros, segundo estatísticas não oficiais. Essa população tinha quase sempre o mesmo perfil: homens que atraídos pelos bons salários na época migravam com suas famílias para a cidade.Até hoje, “a maioria trabalha na área de calçados”, explica Jocenara dos Santos, que mora na China há 14 anos e é professora na escola brasileira. Ela lembra que várias dessas famílias estão instaladas em Dongguan há mais de uma década. Muitos já tiveram filhos no território chinês. Mesmo assim, preferem manter o elo cultural com o Brasil. “Os pais escolhem matricular as crianças aqui porque a gente foca bastante no português”, diz a professora. Arroz e feijão no almoçoOs diplomas da escola são reconhecidos no Brasil, e os alunos seguem o currículo brasileiro. A única diferença é que as aulas são em português, mas também em chinês e inglês. Uma diversidade linguística que atrai até alunos 100% chineses. “Eles vêm pela curiosidade, por ter amigos ou colegas de trabalho brasileiros. Querem saber não só a língua, mas também os costumes, pois nós somos diferentes”, conta Jocenara, que se orgulha de servir arroz e feijão diariamente no almoço que é servido na escola. No entanto, se o estabelecimento já chegou a ter mais de 100 alunos, agora apenas 27 crianças e adolescentes estão matriculados. Pois como no resto da cidade, a escola vem assistindo nos últimos anos a uma diminuição considerável da comunidade brasileira. Muitos desses expatriados perderam seus empregos e deixaram a China. Seja por causa do fechamento das fábricas, que se mudaram para outros países asiáticos ou até africanos, em busca de mão de obra ainda mais barata, ou pelo simples fato que os chineses aprenderam a expertise brasileira no setor calçadista e aos poucos foram substituindo esses imigrantes. Esta situação piorou durante a pandemia de Covid-19. Além do fechamento das fábricas, quando o surto teve início no começo de 2020, muitos brasileiros de Dongguan estavam em férias no Brasil com suas famílias e, diante das restrições do governo chinês para entrada no território, apenas alguns trabalhadores conseguiram voltar. Durante meses, várias famílias permaneceram separadas por causa do coronavírus. Os homens continuaram a trabalhar na China, enquanto as mulheres e crianças ficaram bloqueadas no Brasil. Essa distância fez muita gente desistir do “sonho chinês” e voltar de vez para casa. “O país não tinha inflação”Fernando Andrade viu de perto esse movimento. O carioca mora na região há 17 anos, onde chegou como músico e hoje presta assessoria em importação e exportação. Ele perdeu as contas do número de contêineres com mudanças que ajudou a despachar de volta para o Brasil. “Hoje, em Dongguan, eu acredito que [a população brasileira] esteja abaixo de 200 [pessoas]. Já foram milhares. E isso foi consequência dos três anos de pandemia, que afetaram muito o setor calçadista, principal atividade dos brasileiros por aqui”, afirma. “Dongguan já foi a cidade com o maior número de brasileiros na China”, frisa o carioca.“Quando eu cheguei aqui, o país não tinha inflação”, comenta Elcio Diamantino, que chama a atenção para uma mudança de paradigma econômico que contribuiu para o êxodo dos brasileiros. O carioca, que vive há 20 anos no território chinês, também é músico e lembra com saudosismo os tempos em que os preços não aumentavam e o salário oferecido aos imigrantes qualificados era suficiente para uma vida confortável. “Não é dizer que a China está ruim. Porém, o custo de vida mudou”, aponta. Picanha suculenta assustava chinesesMesmo assim, as atividades ligadas ao Brasil continuam na cidade. Basta visitar a churrascaria Latin, restaurante que mata a vontade dos brasileiros saudosos e encanta os chineses com o sistema de rodízio à brasileira. Fernando Andrade é um dos sócios, junto com o gaúcho Valdecir Schneider. Eles atendem mensalmente cerca de 12 mil clientes. Esse número pode parecer uma gota d'água em um país do tamanho da China, mas é uma proeza para um pedacinho do Brasil tão distante dos Pampas. Schneider, que dirige o restaurante com sua mulher, a chinesa Jenny Lee, conta que demorou para convencer a clientela local sobre os hábitos carnívoros vindos do sul do Brasil. Ele sorri ao lembrar do fascínio e de uma certa apreensão dos asiáticos diante do rodízio de espetos – servidos inicialmente por garçons brasileiros, agora substituídos por chineses. “Há 20 anos, quando eu chegava com aquela picanha suculenta e metia a faca, o cliente praticamente me empurrava [temendo o sangue que pingava no prato]”, recorda. Hoje, a história mudou. Os clientes não apenas perderam o medo da carne malpassada e dos espetos do churrasco brasileiro, como 90% dos que comem no restaurante de Schneider e Andrade são chineses.
Dongguan, na província chinesa de Guangdong, foi durante muito tempo um dos maiores redutos de brasileiros no país asiático. A comunidade, composta principalmente por trabalhadores do setor calçadista do sul do Brasil, chegou a ter quase 5 mil pessoas. Muitos foram embora durante a pandemia de Covid-19, mas também por razões econômicas. Porém, eles ainda são os moradores estrangeiros mais numerosos da cidade, atrás apenas dos coreanos, e implementaram alguns costumes entre os chineses. Silvano Mendes, enviado especial da RFI a DongguanQuem entra na escola Wisdom, localizada em uma rua arborizada de Dongguan, não sabe se está na China ou no Brasil. Nas salas de aula, que acolhem crianças e adolescentes de todas as idades, o chinês e o português se misturam, com algumas pitadas de inglês, e as professoras preservam as tradições das escolas do Brasil, celebrando festa junina e até o Dia do Gaúcho. A escola Wisdom é apenas um exemplo da presença brasileira nesta cidade da província chinesa de Guangdong (Cantão). Dongguan começou a atrair imigrantes do Brasil na década de 1990, quando muitas fábricas de calçados se instalaram nessa dinâmica zona industrial. As empresas, que produziam sapatos na região gaúcha do Vale dos Sinos, escolheram a Ásia em busca de mão de obra mais barata. Mas logo se deram conta que a experiência dos técnicos brasileiros faria a diferença, e muitos dos empregados das fábricas do sul do Brasil foram contratados para ensinar aos chineses como fazer sapatos de qualidade.Foi assim que, aos poucos, uma verdadeira comunidade verde-amarela surgiu em Dongguan e chegou a alcançar um núcleo de 5 mil brasileiros, segundo estatísticas não oficiais. Essa população tinha quase sempre o mesmo perfil: homens que atraídos pelos bons salários na época migravam com suas famílias para a cidade.Até hoje, “a maioria trabalha na área de calçados”, explica Jocenara dos Santos, que mora na China há 14 anos e é professora na escola brasileira. Ela lembra que várias dessas famílias estão instaladas em Dongguan há mais de uma década. Muitos já tiveram filhos no território chinês. Mesmo assim, preferem manter o elo cultural com o Brasil. “Os pais escolhem matricular as crianças aqui porque a gente foca bastante no português”, diz a professora. Arroz e feijão no almoçoOs diplomas da escola são reconhecidos no Brasil, e os alunos seguem o currículo brasileiro. A única diferença é que as aulas são em português, mas também em chinês e inglês. Uma diversidade linguística que atrai até alunos 100% chineses. “Eles vêm pela curiosidade, por ter amigos ou colegas de trabalho brasileiros. Querem saber não só a língua, mas também os costumes, pois nós somos diferentes”, conta Jocenara, que se orgulha de servir arroz e feijão diariamente no almoço que é servido na escola. No entanto, se o estabelecimento já chegou a ter mais de 100 alunos, agora apenas 27 crianças e adolescentes estão matriculados. Pois como no resto da cidade, a escola vem assistindo nos últimos anos a uma diminuição considerável da comunidade brasileira. Muitos desses expatriados perderam seus empregos e deixaram a China. Seja por causa do fechamento das fábricas, que se mudaram para outros países asiáticos ou até africanos, em busca de mão de obra ainda mais barata, ou pelo simples fato que os chineses aprenderam a expertise brasileira no setor calçadista e aos poucos foram substituindo esses imigrantes. Esta situação piorou durante a pandemia de Covid-19. Além do fechamento das fábricas, quando o surto teve início no começo de 2020, muitos brasileiros de Dongguan estavam em férias no Brasil com suas famílias e, diante das restrições do governo chinês para entrada no território, apenas alguns trabalhadores conseguiram voltar. Durante meses, várias famílias permaneceram separadas por causa do coronavírus. Os homens continuaram a trabalhar na China, enquanto as mulheres e crianças ficaram bloqueadas no Brasil. Essa distância fez muita gente desistir do “sonho chinês” e voltar de vez para casa. “O país não tinha inflação”Fernando Andrade viu de perto esse movimento. O carioca mora na região há 17 anos, onde chegou como músico e hoje presta assessoria em importação e exportação. Ele perdeu as contas do número de contêineres com mudanças que ajudou a despachar de volta para o Brasil. “Hoje, em Dongguan, eu acredito que [a população brasileira] esteja abaixo de 200 [pessoas]. Já foram milhares. E isso foi consequência dos três anos de pandemia, que afetaram muito o setor calçadista, principal atividade dos brasileiros por aqui”, afirma. “Dongguan já foi a cidade com o maior número de brasileiros na China”, frisa o carioca.“Quando eu cheguei aqui, o país não tinha inflação”, comenta Elcio Diamantino, que chama a atenção para uma mudança de paradigma econômico que contribuiu para o êxodo dos brasileiros. O carioca, que vive há 20 anos no território chinês, também é músico e lembra com saudosismo os tempos em que os preços não aumentavam e o salário oferecido aos imigrantes qualificados era suficiente para uma vida confortável. “Não é dizer que a China está ruim. Porém, o custo de vida mudou”, aponta. Picanha suculenta assustava chinesesMesmo assim, as atividades ligadas ao Brasil continuam na cidade. Basta visitar a churrascaria Latin, restaurante que mata a vontade dos brasileiros saudosos e encanta os chineses com o sistema de rodízio à brasileira. Fernando Andrade é um dos sócios, junto com o gaúcho Valdecir Schneider. Eles atendem mensalmente cerca de 12 mil clientes. Esse número pode parecer uma gota d'água em um país do tamanho da China, mas é uma proeza para um pedacinho do Brasil tão distante dos Pampas. Schneider, que dirige o restaurante com sua mulher, a chinesa Jenny Lee, conta que demorou para convencer a clientela local sobre os hábitos carnívoros vindos do sul do Brasil. Ele sorri ao lembrar do fascínio e de uma certa apreensão dos asiáticos diante do rodízio de espetos – servidos inicialmente por garçons brasileiros, agora substituídos por chineses. “Há 20 anos, quando eu chegava com aquela picanha suculenta e metia a faca, o cliente praticamente me empurrava [temendo o sangue que pingava no prato]”, recorda. Hoje, a história mudou. Os clientes não apenas perderam o medo da carne malpassada e dos espetos do churrasco brasileiro, como 90% dos que comem no restaurante de Schneider e Andrade são chineses.
Friend of The Bridge and frequent media commentator Fernando Munoz Bernal joins us. Hailing from Colombia, Fernando has lived in China for more than 20 years and was made an "honorary citizen" by the city of Dongguan. We discuss his journey through China by electric RV, how China's COVID policy saved lives, where to charge your EV on a road trip, and more. Want the truth about China and COVID? This is it. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
From YouTube to Bilibili to CGTN and documentary making and more, today's guest literally rewrote the signs in Dongguan. Listen in as an English, Chinese, and Spanish influencer tells personal tales of travelling in a RV across China to produce an all-encompassing documentary. Mr. Gao also shares with us his sky-diving, scuba-diving, strongman-competition-finishing stories that are too good to miss. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
英语新闻｜香港与内地高铁恢复运营！A total of 10,000 daily tickets for high-speed trains between the Chinese mainland and Hong Kong went on sale at noon on Thursday, with tickets for days in the run-up to the Chinese New Year quickly snapped up hours after.中国大陆和香港之间的高铁每日总计10,000张车票于周四中午开始销售，春节前几天的车票在几小时后迅速抢购一空。Hong Kong and the mainland will resume their high-speed train services on Sunday, with tickets each way capped at 5,000 per day.香港和内地将于周日恢复高铁服务，每天单程车票上限为5000张。The number of high-speed train tickets is in addition to the 60,000 daily quota currently set for HK residents traveling to the mainland.高铁车票的数量是在目前为香港居民前往内地设定的每日60,000人之外的。Passengers in Hong Kong can purchase high-speed train tickets to stations in Shenzhen, Dongguan and Guangzhou, all in Guangdong province, via the 12306 website and mobile application — the national railway ticketing system — or from designated travel agencies, the MTR, the city's high-speed railway operator, announced on Thursday.香港高铁运营商港铁周四宣布，香港乘客可以通过12306网站和手机应用程序(全国铁路售票系统)，或指定旅行社购买前往广东省深圳、东莞和广州车站的高铁车票。China Railway Guangzhou Group said that it will arrange an average of 38.5 pairs of high-speed trains every day running from stations in Guangzhou and Shenzhen to Hong Kong's West Kowloon Station.中铁广州集团表示，平均每天安排38.5对高铁列车从广州站和深圳站开往香港西九龙站。Initially, West Kowloon Station will provide trains to Shenzhen's Futian, Shenzhen North and Guangzhou South and Guangzhou East stations.初期，西九龙站将提供前往深圳福田站、深圳北站、广州南站和广州东站的列车。In a news briefing on Thursday morning, Secretary for Transport and Logistics Lam Sai-hung said that the resumption of the high-speed rail service is attractive to travelers because it has been suspended for three years due to the pandemic, and that there are already many attractions near West Kowloon terminus, such as M+ and the Hong Kong Palace Museum.运输及物流业司司长林世雄在周四上午的新闻发布会上表示，恢复高铁服务对旅客具有吸引力，因为高铁已因新冠而暂停了三年，并且西九龙总站附近已有很多景点，例如M+和香港故宫文化博物馆。No prior bookings for checkpoint services are required for passengers boarding high-speed trains departing from or entering the city, Lam added. The West Kowloon Station checkpoint will operate from 6:30 am to 11:30 pm every day, as it did before closing due to the pandemic.林补充说，乘坐高铁进出香港的乘客无需提前预订检查站服务。西九龙站检查站的运作时间为每日早上六时三十分至晚上十一时三十分，与因疫情关闭前一样。High-speed train tickets will be sold on a real-name basis and passengers can board trains with their identification documents. Cross-border train passengers are required to produce a negative COVID-19 nucleic acid test taken within 48 hours of traveling across the border.高铁实行实名制售票，旅客凭身份证乘车。跨境火车乘客必须在出境后48小时内进行新冠核酸检测阴性。The MTR said passengers boarding the trains should wear a mask throughout the journey, and that alcohol-based hand rubs and sprays are not permitted on trains.港铁表示，搭乘列车的乘客应全程佩戴口罩，并且不允许在列车上使用含酒精的洗手液和喷雾剂。More cross-border traffic is gradually returning to normal. Ferry services between Hong Kong and Zhuhai Jiuzhou Port will resume from Sunday, with a 66-percent discount on the first day, according to Zhuhai Jiuzhou Harbor Passenger Transport Services.更多的跨境交通正在逐渐恢复正常。据珠海九洲港客运服务公司称，香港和珠海九洲港之间的渡轮服务将于周日恢复，第一天将有66%的折扣。The company will have four ferry trips between Zhuhai Jiuzhou Port and Hong Kong-Macau Ferry Terminal between Jan 15 to 21, the eve of Chinese New Year. It will be extended to seven ferry trips on Jan 22, with four more ferries between the port and China Ferry Terminal in Hong Kong.1月15日至21日农历新年前夕，该公司将在珠海九洲港和港澳客运码头之间进行四次轮渡。1月22日，渡轮班次将增加至7班，港口与香港中国客运码头之间将增加4班渡轮。No prior booking is necessary for the ferry services, according to the company's spokesperson.据该公司发言人称，渡轮服务无需提前预订。Asked when cross-boundary bus services will resume, Lam said that the government would first need to consult with relevant mainland authorities after reviewing the resumption of high-speed rail services, adding that there was no timetable for resuming those bus services at present.当被问及跨境巴士服务何时恢复时，林郑月娥表示，在恢复高铁服务后，政府首先需要与内地有关当局协商，并补充说，目前没有恢复巴士服务的时间表。On Jan 8, Hong Kong reopened four checkpoints connecting with the mainland. In the initial stage, 60,000 people are allowed to travel each way between Hong Kong and the mainland through the checkpoints in operation every day.1月8日，香港重新开放四个与内地相连的口岸。起步阶段，每天可通过运作中的口岸往来香港与内地单程6万人次。They are not subject to quarantine measures, but they must provide a negative COVID-19 test result taken within 48 hours prior to traveling. They also need to have made a prior booking through designated websites if they opt to pass through the three land ports.他们不受检疫措施的约束，但他们必须提供在旅行前48小时内进行的新冠阴性检测结果。如果他们选择通过这三个陆路口岸，还需要通过指定网站提前预订。Spray英[spreɪ]；美[spreɪ]n. 喷雾；液体的喷洒Ferry 英[ˈferi]；美[ˈferi]n. 渡船；摆渡Snap 英[snæp]；美[snæp]v. （使喀嚓）断裂，绷断
Billy Zhang revelou ainda que a empresa de Dongguan terá uma nova abordagem aos mercados europeus, que envolve expandir para novos países, maximizar os recursos, reestruturar operações e unir os mercados da Europa Ocidental e alguns da Europa Central e Oriental.
In response to the recent COVID-19 surge in China, the regime has locked down mega city Shenzhen, Jilin Province, and Dongguan city, Guandong Province, and put travel restrictions on many places.
Welcome to The Nonlinear Library, where we use Text-to-Speech software to convert the best writing from the Rationalist and EA communities into audio. This is: Omicron #16: Danger in China, published by Zvi on March 14, 2022 on LessWrong. What is happening in China? Scott Gottlieb says we essentially don't know the extent to which Omicron has spread in China. What do we know? We know China has not made great use of its time so far, and seems incapable of the loss of face necessary to get mRNA vaccines, nor does it seem to have stockpiled sufficient amounts of treatment for over a billion people if things get fully out of hand. We know that China has now locked down tens of millions of people. We know that they previously shut down schools in Shanghai, with some pretty strange implementation details. And we know they have quite a few cases. We don't know how many, but the official counts are certainly not overcounting cases. “Because of the large number of cases in a short period of time, it is inevitable that there will be some panic all over the country, and Shanghai is no exception,” said Dr. Zhang Wenhong, a prominent infectious disease expert in Shanghai, in a post on his social media account on Monday. We also know from Hong Kong what it could look like if a population that only had access to Sinovac and has had few previous infections has uncontrolled spread of Omicron. Things get very bad very quickly. The thing I noticed right away about China's reaction this time in Shanghai, which came first, was that it wasn't as complete. The will to succeed seemed not to be there on the same level. Yes, this was a series of coercive actions the West would be incapable of taking, but what reason was there to think they would work? Closing off all school-based transmission won't slow down Omicron much. Closing schools is a half-measure. If you have reason to think schools need to be closed, and you are following China's old playbook, than anything that makes you need to shut down Shanghai's schools should make you shut down all of Shanghai. In other cases, China has made this extremely expensive and painful choice, and it has worked. This time, faced with a more dangerous variant, they only closed schools and hoped the problem would go away. That is not going to work (not that it has had time to have an impact yet, but it was never going to work). Now they've ‘restricted movement in many neighborhoods' of Shanghai, but not in others, and this is still very different from the nature of previous Chinese lockdowns. And consider what they are doing in Dongguan, which is perhaps too big to shut down in the same way as Shanghai: City authorities told residents not to leave the city, except for essential reasons. Those leaving must show negative test results within 48 hours of departure. A few entrances on highways to other cities were closed, while all shuttle buses linking airports in other cities and check-in terminals in Dongguan were halted. Some museums and libraries in the city also closed to visitors. Its factories are still running, however. “(Workers) need to do COVID tests, but it's not a prerequisite for them to be able to enter factories,” said King Lau, who helps manage a metal coating factory. That is not going to be enough. Some cases will get out, and cases within the city will still rise, unless this was caught so early there really were only a handful to start and then they got super lucky. They still were willing to shut down Shenzen and a total of about 60 million people so far, while showing signs they are approaching their limits. So what happens now? If there are this many cases already, the question is whether the outbreak is somehow contained to the cities and areas that are now locked down, or otherwise the tide can somehow be turned. I do not see how this happens. China could ramp up its reactions, locking down more cities and areas with harsher conditions, in an attempt to make it stop, but can it afford to ...
Link to original articleWelcome to The Nonlinear Library, where we use Text-to-Speech software to convert the best writing from the Rationalist and EA communities into audio. This is: Omicron #16: Danger in China, published by Zvi on March 14, 2022 on LessWrong. What is happening in China? Scott Gottlieb says we essentially don't know the extent to which Omicron has spread in China. What do we know? We know China has not made great use of its time so far, and seems incapable of the loss of face necessary to get mRNA vaccines, nor does it seem to have stockpiled sufficient amounts of treatment for over a billion people if things get fully out of hand. We know that China has now locked down tens of millions of people. We know that they previously shut down schools in Shanghai, with some pretty strange implementation details. And we know they have quite a few cases. We don't know how many, but the official counts are certainly not overcounting cases. “Because of the large number of cases in a short period of time, it is inevitable that there will be some panic all over the country, and Shanghai is no exception,” said Dr. Zhang Wenhong, a prominent infectious disease expert in Shanghai, in a post on his social media account on Monday. We also know from Hong Kong what it could look like if a population that only had access to Sinovac and has had few previous infections has uncontrolled spread of Omicron. Things get very bad very quickly. The thing I noticed right away about China's reaction this time in Shanghai, which came first, was that it wasn't as complete. The will to succeed seemed not to be there on the same level. Yes, this was a series of coercive actions the West would be incapable of taking, but what reason was there to think they would work? Closing off all school-based transmission won't slow down Omicron much. Closing schools is a half-measure. If you have reason to think schools need to be closed, and you are following China's old playbook, than anything that makes you need to shut down Shanghai's schools should make you shut down all of Shanghai. In other cases, China has made this extremely expensive and painful choice, and it has worked. This time, faced with a more dangerous variant, they only closed schools and hoped the problem would go away. That is not going to work (not that it has had time to have an impact yet, but it was never going to work). Now they've ‘restricted movement in many neighborhoods' of Shanghai, but not in others, and this is still very different from the nature of previous Chinese lockdowns. And consider what they are doing in Dongguan, which is perhaps too big to shut down in the same way as Shanghai: City authorities told residents not to leave the city, except for essential reasons. Those leaving must show negative test results within 48 hours of departure. A few entrances on highways to other cities were closed, while all shuttle buses linking airports in other cities and check-in terminals in Dongguan were halted. Some museums and libraries in the city also closed to visitors. Its factories are still running, however. “(Workers) need to do COVID tests, but it's not a prerequisite for them to be able to enter factories,” said King Lau, who helps manage a metal coating factory. That is not going to be enough. Some cases will get out, and cases within the city will still rise, unless this was caught so early there really were only a handful to start and then they got super lucky. They still were willing to shut down Shenzen and a total of about 60 million people so far, while showing signs they are approaching their limits. So what happens now? If there are this many cases already, the question is whether the outbreak is somehow contained to the cities and areas that are now locked down, or otherwise the tide can somehow be turned. I do not see how this happens. China could ramp up its reactions, locking down more cities and areas with harsher conditions, in an attempt to make it stop, but can it afford to ...
西安启动第三轮核酸检测|Xi'an Starts Third Round of Testing for CoronavirusMore than 4 million residents in Xi'an, capital of Shaanxi province, underwent nucleic acid testing for COVID-19 on Thursday after a third round of testing began at 8 am.周四上午8点，陕西西安开展第三轮新冠病毒核酸筛查工作，全市400多万名居民接受检测。All communities, villages and workplaces were closed effective Thursday, and residents have been asked not to leave the city unless "extremely necessary", according to a statement released by the city government.根据西安市人民政府发布的声明，自本周四起，全市小区（村）、单位实行封闭式管理，倡导全体市民“非必要不离市”。Long-distance passenger transportation services have been suspended. However, freight vehicles transporting epidemic prevention materials and daily necessities are exempt.除运输防疫物资和生活必需品的货车外，长途客运服务已暂停。 The statement was issued after 127 people tested positive in the second round of nucleic acid testing.声明发生前，共127人在第二轮核酸检测中呈阳性。According to Lyu Yongpeng, deputy director of the city's health commission, Xi'an reported 91 new locally transmitted COVID-19 cases from Wednesday to 1 pm on Thursday, bringing the city's total number of confirmed cases to 234 in the current outbreak.据西安市卫生健康委副主任吕永鹏介绍，从本周三到本周四下午1点，西安报告了本土确诊病例91例。自此，本次疫情中该市确诊病例总数达234例。The new confirmed cases included three children under age 3, Lyu said at a news conference. "Xi'an added 31 new medium-risk areas the previous day," Lyu said. The city had one high-risk area and 71 medium-risk areas as of 1 pm on Thursday, he added.吕永鹏在新闻发布会上说，新增确诊病例中包括三名3岁以下的儿童。吕永鹏表示：“西安在前一天新增中风险地区31个。”他补充说，截至周四下午1点，该市有1个高风险区和71个中风险区。The outbreak has seen the spread of the virus to a number of other cities in Shaanxi and beyond the province.此轮疫情已波及陕西省及省外其他一些城市。Three new cases have been reported in Xianyang, three in Yan'an, both in Shaanxi, one in Beijing, 24 in Dongguan, Guangdong province, four in Zhoukou, Henan province and one in Yuncheng, Shanxi province.陕西咸阳报告了3例新增病例，陕西延安报告了3例，北京报告了1例，广东东莞报告了24例，河南周口报告了4例，山西运城报告了1例。Gene sequencing of the infected patients indicated that the strain of the virus is similar to the cases in Xi'an.这些确诊患者的基因测序表明，该病毒毒株与西安病例相似。All domestic flights to and from Xi'an Xianyang International Airport have been canceled to contain the spread of the virus, local authorities said on Thursday. Three international flights were still operating as of 10 am on Thursday. Many airlines and railway departments have asked passengers to accept refunds or reschedule their trips.当地政府周四表示，为遏制病毒传播，所有往返西安咸阳国际机场的国内航班都已取消。截至周四上午10点，三架国际航班仍在运行。多家航空公司和铁路部门已要求乘客接受退款或重新安排行程。The city's education and other departments have been urged to carefully prepare facilities for postgraduate entrance examinations scheduled to start at Chang'an University on Saturday to ensure the health safety of teachers and examinees. A total of 135,000 candidates are due to take the exam in the city.西安市教育部门和其他有关部门已紧急为定于本周六在长安大学举行的研究生入学考试精心做好布置，保障教师和考生的健康。共有13.5万名考生将在该市参加研究生入学考试。Li Qungang, a senior official at the city's commerce bureau, said there are adequate food supplies, including meat, vegetables, and daily necessities in the city.该市商务局党组成员李群刚表示，西安市有充足的食品（如肉类、蔬菜）和日用品供应。A housewife surnamed Liu said the lockdown has had little impact on people's lives in her community. "Residents voluntarily keep safe distances while waiting in line for nucleic acid testing," she said.一位刘姓家庭主妇说，封闭式管理对社区居民的生活影响不大。她表示：“居民在排队等待核酸检测时都主动保持安全距离。”nucleic英 [njuːˈkleɪɪk]；美[nuˈkleɪɪk] adj. 核的；核酸freight英 [freɪt]；美[freɪt] n. （海运、空运或陆运的）货物；货运vt. 寄送，运送（货物）；货运；使充满（某种心情或口气）exempt英 [ɪɡˈzempt]；美[ɪɡˈzempt] vt. 豁免；免除adj. 获豁免；免除（责任、付款等）v. 豁免；免除n. 被免除（义务，责任）的人；免税人lockdown英 [ˈlɒkdaʊn]；美[ˈlɑːkdaʊn] n. 活动（或行动）限制
At the 700-year-old Dongguan mosque in Xining, the dome and minarets have come down. Anything that looks Middle Eastern is replaced by architecture that looks more Han Chinese. But is this remodelling part of a broader campaign to suppress minority cultures?
At the 700-year-old Dongguan mosque in Xining, China, the dome and minarets have come down. But could this remodelling be part of a broader campaign to suppress minority cultures? Plus, a new book by Adrian Pabst looks at whether the COVID-19 pandemic has killed liberalism.
Venture capitalists are rushing into Dongguan, once "factory to the world."Read the article by Zeyi Yang: https://www.protocol.com/china/dongguan-robotics-startup Narrated by Kaiser Kuo.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
A thriving hub for innovation, technology, and entrepreneurship; a vast, affluent consumer market; a high-calibre talent pool; and a $12.6 trillion economic output. Andrea Tiwana, a Senior VP in the Asia-Pacific Commercial Banking business for HSBC and guests – Daniel Chan, HSBC's Head of Greater Bay Area; Andy Lam, MD of Gamma Healthcare, and Dr. Patrick Lau, Deputy Executive Director of the Hong Kong Trade Development Council – discuss why “the stars are aligned” for international SMEs to leverage growth opportunities in China's Greater Bay Area. Whether you want to raise funding in Hong Kong, innovate alongside tech giants in Shenzen or leverage manufacturing expertise in Dongguan, find out how the Greater Bay Area could propel your business to the next level.This episode is a part of the Inspiring Progressive Business mini-series on topics that matter the most to businesses like yours – international trade, sustainability and digital and innovation.To find out more click here Our GDPR privacy policy was updated on August 8, 2022. Visit acast.com/privacy for more information.
En días pasados, Huawei inauguró su Centro Global de Transparencia de Ciberseguridad y Protección de la Privacidad, en la ciudad China de Dongguan, haciendo énfasis en que mientras profundizamos en la digitalización en todo el mundo, la ciberseguridad se está volviendo más importante que nunca.
China's first REITs make their debut. The country's Dongguan kicks off citywide Covid-19 testing. New brands sparkle in “6.18” e-commerce marketing event. Plus, African swine fever variants lead to mass outbreaks across China.
Tony moved from China to California in 1998 for higher education. After graduation he chose to stay in the US and worked in AI and digital innovation at Silicon Valley for a decade. In 2013 he decided to come back to China to open his own AI innovation company, Foocaa, and today he’s responsible for hundreds of smart communities managements in many cities across China. His company is a Founders Space China partner in Songshan Lake in Dongguan. Watch this podcast on YouTube: https://youtu.be/_gwb_c-l5dk Make sure to follow us on our social media: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ofcoursechina Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ofcoursechina/ Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/ofcoursechina LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/of-course-china Email: ofcoursechina@gmail.com --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/of-course-china/message
Stand up comedian Joe Wong talks about his humble beginnings. From moving to America for his PhD in Biochemistry to improving his English and starting in stand up comedy in Boston. In our conversation, he mentions roasting Joe Biden 10 years before he becomes the President with a hint to Kamala Harris, and discusses hosting his show on China's CCTV. This interview was held in Dongguan, immediately after Joe did an hour of Chinese stand up comedy, and just before going up to do another hour in English. Subscribe to our channel to ensure you don't miss our podcasts. Watch this podcast on YouTube: https://youtu.be/z4ycPqAJe2A Make sure to follow us on our social media: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ofcoursechina Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ofcoursechina/ Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/ofcoursechina LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/of-course-china Email: ofcoursechina@gmail.com --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/of-course-china/message
Sophie Yuen came from very humble beginnings in a far countryside in Chongqing. Her upbringing made her tough and strict, a personal style she displayed throughout her career. After coming to South China in search of financial independence, she advanced quickly and became the HR and admin manager of Paramount, the first big Brazilian shoe manufacturer in Dongguan, managing shoemakers in China. Bridging Chinese and Brazilian shoemakers was her mission in those days in a company that employed 100 Brazilians in Dongguan. Being diagnosed with breast cancer in 2010 made her realize her true self and become much softer and kinder to herself and to others. Today she's a life and career coach through her company, Sophie's Dream Studio. Watch this podcast on YouTube: https://youtu.be/Zysddqr_cXw Make sure to follow us on our social media: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ofcoursechina Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ofcoursechina/ Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/ofcoursechina LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/of-course-china Email: ofcoursechina@gmail.com --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/of-course-china/message
Bram Vandendriessche's family make and sell high quality furniture for almost 70 years. Since 2008 they're also making furniture in Dongguan, China and Bram has been living in China and running the Up2Date Medalounger factory since 2012. Growing up around furniture stores gave him a special insight for the trade and today he's become an expert on the furniture manufacturing process. In 2019 he launched a super comfortable and elegant recliner brand called Modulax. Watch this podcast on YouTube: https://youtu.be/f-Fuq2yAbyk Make sure to follow us on our social media: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ofcoursechina Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ofcoursechina/ Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/ofcoursechina LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/of-course-china Email: ofcoursechina@gmail.com --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/of-course-china/message
Karl Long is an Irishman making candy in China. He is the general manager at Zed Candy factory in Zhangmutou, Dongguan, where he manufactures candy such as gum balls and jellybeans, and export it to 50 countries around the world. Zed Candy was founded in Ireland in 1992 and moved its factory to China in 2008. Karl has been living and working as an expat in China since 2002 in Harbin, Beijing, Hangzhou, Hefei, and now Dongguan. Watch this podcast on YouTube: https://youtu.be/Fze_Y7_LVIA Make sure to follow us on our social media: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ofcoursechina Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ofcoursechina/ Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/ofcoursechina Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/of-course-china Email: ofcoursechina@gmail.com --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/of-course-china/message
Aiming to keep it deep and meaningful. WEBSITE LINK : Harmonic Dimensions (2010) http://www.harmonicdimensions.co.nz/ TOP LINKS : Facebook : Red Pill University : FULL STEAM AHEAD!! I'll see you on Jekyll Island! (24 August 2020) https://www.facebook.com/redpilluniversity/ redpilluniversity.org : An Idea Whose Time Has Come - Your Life & Liberty Depend on it (23 July 2020) https://redpilluniversity.org/2020/07/23/an-idea-whose-time-has-come-2/ NATURE LINK : The Dodo : Iguana Rescued From Middle of Ocean / Dodo (21 Oct 2017) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ovHYJUp3I6g CURIOSITY LINKS : Be Inspired : What should we do? (24 Sept 2020) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2AnOISF200g chave weather - daily videos : Massive fire at Huawei lab in Dongguan, Guandong, China - September 25 2020 (26 Sept 2020) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zEoQrGY7OJM RECOMMENDED LINKS : Vinny Eastwood : TK Tuesday Censorship of Advance NZ, Candidates Not Invited, Agenda 21 explained Vinny Eastwood (29 Sept 2020) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3wHmSnQ3u0E Vinny Eastwood : Guardians of Innocence March & NZLM Aotea Square, Auckland (26 Sept 2020) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=43BeFnu_E_A Terry Opines : New Zealand: Jami-Lee Ross no longer co-leader of Advance NZ - NZPP (27 Sept 2020) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L07-46rgAqA Newsroom NZ : Sarah Dowie - part 1 (7 August 2020) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QwIuJXKKJz8 Newsroom NZ : Sarah Dowie - part 2 (7 August 2020) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SSnYhUA6AO8 Rebel News : INFURIATING VIDEO: Sydney police ARREST father of six for exercising outdoors - Help us fight back! (29 Sept 2020) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uujcd2axo_w X22 Report : IMF & The Global Elite Just Fell Into The Trap, Watch What Happens Next - Episode 2286a (25 Sept 2020) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cfrh5wXCNUk X22 Report : Operators Are Standing By, Some Will Exit Early, Judgement Day Is Coming - Episode 2286b (25 Sept 2020) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OICxZPUuVps X22 Report : Trump Economics Strikes Again, (CB) Trapped In Their Own Illusion - Episode 2288a (28 Sept 2020) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wVMb1JR7PN8 X22 Report : The (DS) Players Took The Bait, How Do You Introduce Haiti & The Children? - Episode 2288b (28 Sept 2020) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7eV5gpZI38k And We Know : Never bring an @rrow (in a quiver) to a LOSBR miss#le fight! (27 Sept 2020) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V7mTwq0P8vo Al Jazeera English : Hong Kong journalists warn of new threat to media freedom (28 Sept 2020) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8CkXtS8LmT0 Al Jazeera English : Australia's Forgotten Bushfire Survivors / 101 East (25 Sept 2020) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S82uqALBmto South China Morning Post : Global expansion of Tik Tok and other Chinese tech companies is likely, only not in West (22 Sept 2020) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XR0KjWgyJ9M RECOMMENDED MUSIC LINK : The Cure : 'A Forest' (1987) - (Official Video) (24 Feb 2010) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xik-y0xlpZ0
In This Episode... What is so useful about free trade zones in China? Why should importers with Chinese suppliers consider utilizing them? Sofeast has recently opened an RMA and fulfillment facility in Shenzhen's Pingshan Free Trade Zone, so, based on our experience there, we're going to explain the benefits. Hopefully, after listening to this episode, so you will understand if using warehousing, RMA, and fulfillment in the FTZ is better for your business in terms of costs, time, and effort than in China-proper. Show Notes Start to 6:27 Introduction into what Free Trade Zones are. 6:27 to 9:01 - FTZ RMA facility is better than local ones (such as in the USA) due to far lower costs and proximity to your suppliers. 9:01 to 10:42 What does the inspection, sorting, and repair/rework process that the FTZ is perfect for look like? 10:42 to 11:52 Rather than using a local rework company, sending defective pieces back to the FTZ means your supplier can take responsibility and send their own staff to do the repair/rework. How does this work? 11:52 to 12:08 There was a lack of repair services in China, until now..! 12:08 to 15:01 Suppliers deliver finished products/components to the FTZ and they have 'exported' - can apply for VAT rebate and request payment by customer - they like this and it can help you to have a better relationship with the supplier. Our FTZ facility can store your goods (it's cheaper than locally or even other places in China) and fulfill them as per your needs, so you rely less on the supplier to get things right or safely store your products (the supplier's warehouse may be damp, may not be insured against fire, etc). It's suitable for batches of products of a certain size, but not dropshipping piece by piece (we handle this from our Dongguan contract manufacturing facility) 15:01 to 17:00 If importers have the need to bring together orders components/products and ship them out from China in batches, using a FTZ fulfillment center can improve relationships and results from suppliers. 17:00 to 19:49 If you use a 3rd party (such as our company) to act on your behalf from the FTZ to deal with your supplier Chinese-company to Chinese-company - this allows easier payments, invoicing, and builds more trust with the supplier who knows that they can take legal action against us if we, say, do not pay them (much harder for them to do against foreign companies), therefore they are more likely to offer preferential credit terms and other benefits to you. Therefore using a dedicated 3rd party China buying office in conjunction with the FTZ location is helpful. 19:49 to 21:15 An FTZ location allows you to receive components and goods from different suppliers without letting them know important information such as your IP, product type, other suppliers, costs, your retailers, etc. Overall, this helps protect you against suppliers using your designs or undercutting you in your market by selling cheaper. 21:15 to 22:15 If some parts come in from suppliers in a foreign country, let's say somewhere like Vietnam, to be assembled with other from China, is it worth paying fees to import them to China and spending the time to go through Chinese customs? By utilising a Free Trade Zone facility, this cost can be avoided. 22:15 to 23:29 Customs clearance - are there tangible reductions to delivery times due to the FTZ's reduced bureaucracy in regards to customs clearance? 23:29 to 26:24 Do the Chinese FTZs eat into Hong Kong's status as a free port where there are also lower import/export duties and processes? Hong Kong still has benefits, but labor costs there are high. 26:24 to END Summarising the benefits of the FTZ - where is the Pingshan FTZ in Shenzhen located? Take a look at this map for a rough idea (you can see how close it is to Yantian port). Extra information you may find helpful If you do end up with defective products, RMA in the FTZ is a good last resort that gives you options to recover some or all of the order, however, it's always better to work with suppliers who won't cause you problems - we've already created a podcast mini-series on vetting good Chinese suppliers to help you get into that position. Learn about our Free Trade Zone facility and its solutions. Get in touch with us Connect with us on LinkedIn Send us a tweet @sofeast Prefer Facebook? Check us out on FB Contact us via Sofeast's contact page Get even more great content or assistance with your own project Visit our website at Sofeast.com Subscribe to our YouTube channel
In this episode we look at some of the best cities in the world to live as a digital nomad. We factor in a few criteria to why you should live there - price to rent a one bedroom apartment in the city centre, price of a beer, price of a meal for 2 at a mid range restaurant, internet speed, visa requirements; and that little extra the place offers.BaliRent: $350 per monthBeer: $2-$5Internet Speed: 512kbps – 2mbps (some providers can offer higher speeds).Meal out for 2: $27Visa: Standard 30 days can be extendedBonus Stuff: surfing.Cape Town, South AfricaRent: $650Beer: $2.50Internet Speed: 22mb/sMeal out for 2: $45 Visa: 90 daysBonus Stuff: Southern Spain, Cadiz CoastRent: $600 per monthBeer: $2.50Internet Speed: 13Mb/sMeal out for 2: $29 Visa: As long as you like if you're from the EU. Bonus Stuff: surfing.Dongguan, China. Rent: $450 per monthBeer: $1Internet Speed: 2-20Mb/sMeal out for 2: $20Visa: 2 year multiple entry visa if you're a UK citizenBonus Stuff: manufacturing!Taipei, Taiwan.Rent: $587.45Beer: $1.78Internet Speed: 85mb/sMeal out for 2: $25.45Visa: 90 days on arrival + 90 day extension when you are thereLower expat community than most other countriesSaigon, VietnamRent: $546.45 per monthBeer: $0.86Internet Speed: 62mb/s (same as UK)Meal out for 2: $21.56Visa: 3 month multiple entry, can enter again any time by leaving country and coming backBonus Stuff: Friendly people and very safeWe're brought to you by onthejobmarketing.comIf you're a tradesperson, you need a website and marketing to get more customers. Speak to the people that know your trade and can help with all your marketing needs.
Scott and his daughter Addie powerfully discuss real-life applications of the story of Abinadi, and they reflect on their time in Dongguan, including memories of drenched ebike rides in Dongcheng.
Sherstin shares a page from her journey through Asia--Taiwan, Dongguan, Suzhou, and now Vietnam--and her insights on the power of remembering the Savior and the loving nature of our Heavenly Father.
https://www.klugonyx.com/ When you are venturing your own product to market, where do you turn for help with manufacturing? Who do you contact to make your invention for you? How can you avoid getting taken advantage of when working with factories overseas? How can you find the best price for your first shipment of product? These are just some of the stressful questions that accompany starting your own business! Which is why Nate's company Onyx360 exists — to help inventors get the best product possible. From their office in Dongguan, China, his team vets factories, negotiates prices, and oversees tooling, sampling, assembly, and quality control for every run of their client's product. In a nutshell, Nate's company Onyx360 helps inventors and small companies identify and work with the right manufacturing sources for their products. This is the sister company of the product development firm Klugonyx, whose founder we interviewed last week in this video: https://youtu.be/ut3XP1WHP0A Stephen also asks Nate pointblank: How can you prevent or stop overseas manufacturers from selling your product behind your back? Nate gives an honest answer, which is that you don't stop it — you anticipate it. Intellectual property protection can help (especially if you have something unique) but stronger relationships between clients and manufacturers can help even more. Suppliers are always watching the market! Nate says, you have to anticipate that after you go out there, you will have competition. This is true for any successful product! Can you develop a manufacturing method that is so unique that others won't copy it? Maybe. But that can be expensive and time-consuming! Evolving a manufacturing method slightly can be much smarter and more effective than building expensive brand new machines. It all depends on the product. Great info Nate! Bringing an invention to market? Let inventRight, the world's leading experts on product licensing, show you how. Cofounded by Stephen Key and Andrew Krauss in 1999, inventRight has since helped people from more than 60 countries license their ideas for products. Visit http://www.inventright.com for more information and to become their student. Call #1-800-701-7993 to set up an appointment with Andrew or another member of the inventRight team to discuss how we can help you license your ideas. New to licensing? Read inventRight cofounder Stephen Key's bestselling book “One Simple Idea: Turn Your Dreams Into a Licensing Goldmine While Letting Others Do the Work.” Find it here: http://amzn.to/1LGotjB. Want to learn how to license your product ideas without a patent? Stephen's book “Sell Your Ideas With or Without a Patent” explains exactly how. Find it here: http://amzn.to/1T1dOU2. inventRight, LLC. is not a law firm and does not provide legal, patent, trademark, or copyright advice. Please exercise caution when evaluating any information, including but not limited to business opportunities; links to news stories; links to services, products, or other websites. No endorsements are issued by inventRight, LLC., expressed or implied. Depiction of any trademarks/logos does not represent endorsement of inventRight, LLC, its services, or products by the trademark owner. All trademarks are registered trademarks of their respective companies.
Rob reminisces about life in Dongguan—including riding around town with his family in their 3-wheeled Skagg-mobile, and he shares his insights on “spiritual sky-diving” and “hungry prayers.”
Robert Rother ist einer der wenigen Deutschen, die in China eine Haftstrafe abgesessen haben. Geboren 1982 in Dortmund, eröffnete er mit 13 sein erstes Aktiendepot. Kurz vor dem Abitur verließ er die Schule, um sich ganz seinen Geschäften zu widmen. 2004 ging der Investment-Banker nach China, wo er Millionen verdiente und in die höchsten Kreise aufstieg. Dann die plötzliche Wende: Eine Klage bringt Rother in Untersuchungshaft, wo er drei Jahre mit fünfzehn Häftlingen in einer Zelle verbringt. Seine Ex-Freundin soll Unterschriften auf Schecks gefälscht haben, um Investoren anzulocken. Dann das Urteil: acht Jahre Gefängnis. Zwangsarbeit, Folter und Isolation überlebt Robert Rother dank außergewöhnlicher Willenskraft und extremer Anpassungsfähigkeit. Und dank des Umstandes, dass er Deutscher ist, was ihn vor den schlimmsten Sanktionen bewahrt. Als Robert Rother im Dezember 2018 aus dem Gefängnis Dongguan im Süden Chinas entlassen wird, hat er fast acht Jahre hinter Gittern verbracht.
Robert Rother ist einer der wenigen Deutschen, die in China eine Haftstrafe abgesessen haben. Geboren 1982 in Dortmund, eröffnete er mit 13 sein erstes Aktiendepot. Kurz vor dem Abitur verließ er die Schule, um sich ganz seinen Geschäften zu widmen. 2004 ging der Investment-Banker nach China, wo er Millionen verdiente und in die höchsten Kreise aufstieg. Dann die plötzliche Wende: Eine Klage bringt Rother in Untersuchungshaft, wo er drei Jahre mit fünfzehn Häftlingen in einer Zelle verbringt. Seine Ex-Freundin soll Unterschriften auf Schecks gefälscht haben, um Investoren anzulocken. Dann das Urteil: acht Jahre Gefängnis. Zwangsarbeit, Folter und Isolation überlebt Robert Rother dank außergewöhnlicher Willenskraft und extremer Anpassungsfähigkeit. Und dank des Umstandes, dass er Deutscher ist, was ihn vor den schlimmsten Sanktionen bewahrt. Als Robert Rother im Dezember 2018 aus dem Gefängnis Dongguan im Süden Chinas entlassen wird, hat er fast acht Jahre hinter Gittern verbracht.
The Greater Bay Area represents an ambitious plan to compete with Silicon Valley by pooling talent, financial, infrastructure, and technological economies of scale to build the first true global competitor. The Greater Bay Area (GBA) consists of the mega cities in Southern China’s Pearl River Delta region including Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Zhuhai, Foshan, Dongguan, Zhongshan, Jiangmen, Huizhou, Zhaoqing, Hong Kong and Macau. In total, the population is more than 70 million, produces 37% of China’s exports, and 12% of its GDP. Understand the opportunity for your business. After all, we all live in the Greater Bay Area. Join the dialogue on Hong Kong’s integration, and its chances against #ChinaTech rival Shenzhen. Tony Verb is a serial entrepreneur, urban innovator, venture capitalist and film producer, based in Hong Kong. He’s the founder of GreaterBay Ventures & Advisors, an integrated investment and consulting firm, specialised on cross-border innovation and smart cities. Tony is committed to accelerate the growth of technology companies that positively impact urbanisation under the thesis he coins as “Urban Tech with Impact”. The Greater Bay Area of South China, Hong Kong and Macau is the the biggest megacity on the planet and he sees the region as the best place to facilitate and scale the adaptation of urban tech best practices globally.
Product innovation, product creation, and product variance are the key lifelines to any Amazon e-commerce business. Unless you are very lucky, simply putting one product out there and hoping that pays off is not going to be sustainable to your business. Today's guest helps people working with overseas importers to navigate the realm of product development, sourcing, and all that any e-commerce business owner needs to achieve success and save some money in the process. Zack Leonard became interested in product design and importation after starting out as a consultant and working in operations and strategy. His interest was piqued when he started delving into what goes on in product manufacturing. Zack started to research and test what was missing in the market. What started as quality control team on the ground overseas has grown into a full-service product innovation platform that brings in experts all along the product creation, development, and delivery chain. Episode Highlights: How Zack got started in manufacturing and the story of Gembah. Zack walks us through a case study of a client Gembah has helped streamline product design and delivery. How Gembah is able to shave off thousands and create value for your business with his services. The design process their teams go through with clients. How relationship building is essential to the services Zack offers. How Gembah's consolidated shipping tactics help clients. The process is for new product manufacturing launch – goals for an awesome product. Mutual nondisclosure steps taken by Gembah and their clients. The importance of visiting the factories and making that culture stop overseas. Transcription: Mark: Joe as you and I both know product innovation product creation and variance on your product is one of the key lifelines to any Amazon business. You can't just launch a product or if you can you're very, very lucky. Most businesses don't just launch a product and live with that forever. You need to be able to come up with new products to feed your audience, to feed your; complete your customers in some way. Then I understand you have Zack Leonard on who his company helps with just that; product creation, sourcing, reducing COGS. Tell me a little bit about the conversation. Joe: Yeah. Zack is from a company called Gembah and he came to us through some people that have bought some sizable businesses with us. People that I would say are smarter than us and are in the e-commerce world working with Chinese manufacturers developing new products, sourcing new products, and just focused on all aspects of importing from I should say overseas. It's not always China. But it was a fascinating conversation because a lot of people that we talked to whether they're buyers or sellers want to expand their product line. A lot of conversation that you and I have with entrepreneurs we repeat over and over it's not just about the top line it's the bottom line and you shouldn't just drive revenue and not focus on reducing your cost of goods sold or repackaging or stop shipping things by air and do it by freight things of that nature. Zack's company focuses on all of that and it's right there in Austin, Texas and he just goes through all of it here in the podcast and it's fascinating. I think a lot of people are going to say where the hell was this guy when I started my business because you're going to want to use him and similar services like his. Mark: You know I was just talking to somebody right before you and I jumped on this call here where he had an idea. He's a consultant on a lot of different things and he was asking me about product packaging and Amazon businesses whether or not there would be a market out there from amazon sellers who want to save some money on their packaging and maybe getting better rates from Amazon in that regard. And I tried to explain to them that yes people are interested but in the Amazon eco-space, there is this element of there's so many opportunities to either cut costs or grow revenue. Most people are focusing on this; the 20% that's going to have the 80% effect, right? And so if you can hire somebody like Zack; if you can find a company like Zack's that can come in and take care of maybe the other 80% that you're ignoring because you're simply too dang busy with all the other stuff that's on your plate that can be a really key win for your company. Joe: Yeah I think it's an opportunity to at least listen to it have a conversation I think that; you know I asked him throughout this is not, by the way, a pitch for his services. I asked for golden nuggets all the way through. What are people doing right? What are they doing wrong? What would you advise them to do? How can they cut their own costs and things of that nature? So I think it's going to help people if they're in the e-commerce world now and it's an opportunity. You could talk to him at the end. We gave out his information. It's Gembah.com G-E-M-B-A-H but listen to it, it's fascinating. Some of the tidbits he gives throughout the entire podcast are really valuable. Joe: Hey folks it's Joe Valley from Quiet Light Brokerage and today I've got Zack Leonard on the line with me from Gembah. Zack welcome to the Quiet Light Podcast. Zack: Thanks, Joe. I'm really excited to be here; excited for the next 30, 30-ish minutes to talk more about what we do and a bit more of our background. Joe: Let's jump right into that. Tell us about what you do, what Gembah is, and who you serve. Zack: Yeah. So I am the founder and president of Gembah. We are a product innovation platform. So we help businesses both e-commerce Amazon and promotional products companies and retail brands create and manufacture products. So we have a team of engineers, designers that help more with the product innovation side of things. So helping bring ideas to life through sketches, design, whole renderings, CAD drawings. And then we have a team in China that focuses on the manufacturing once those collaterals for your projects are done; for those cool products that are you trying to make. We turn it over to our team to help put it out to our factory network which is over 500 now. And then once you're into production we do a bunch of quality control measures and really look at it as if you are physically there in the factory yourself to take photos and videos along the way to make sure that we're scrutinizing the way that you would not a third party necessarily. Really we see ourselves as a partner in crime in that sense and then once everything's ready to go we help with the logistics as well. So really a turnkey operation to make sure that you can get these cool products to the market in a very fast manner. So typically we can get them out in like three or six months. Joe: Where the hell were you when I was in the e-commerce world dang because I needed you? Zack: Actually during that, I keep hearing that but we're here now. Joe: Yeah, I actually; two different e-commerce worlds, first for me it was supplements; digestive health supplements that was US-based. But we had another; my wife had a different product that we manufactured in China or she manufactured in China but we had no idea what we're doing. So I love this subject and I think there's probably a lot of people that are listening going oh my God where has this guy been? So tell us that, where have you been? How did you get started doing what you do? What's your background prior to Gembah? Zack: Yeah, so it's actually unrelated completely. I started as a consultant many moons ago; my prior life. And really that helped me organized chaos and kept me that operational and financial way of thinking. And I moved into a role where I was running the Texas markets for a company called Instacart which is same-day delivery. And you get to see explosive growth and I was employee I think number 40 or something like that so moving a market from zero to doing seven-plus figures in a week in GMV which is hiring nonstop. Basically we have to hire 75 to 100 people a day. It is nuts. Joe: Wow. Zack: Yeah and then from there I moved into a strategy role at a company called Dropoff which was focused on more than just grocery delivery but more to same-day courier delivery. And while I was there I started to pick an interest into manufacturing side of things; it always, Show How It's Made always resonates with me. I like to watch that show. And then I met a couple of people that were into the manufacturing. One of them owns a pet products company. And he really opened my eyes to what really goes on into that. And the whole time I was thinking man there's really a problem that was on for a product company to try and find a good resource to really make products overseas especially. So I started doing a ton of research and then I started to really just test this theory out of what is missing in the market out there. And it started off as really just trying to be like a quality control company seeing like how we can help and we've just been like a team on the ground overseas. And as we continue to grow over the last couple of years we've started to say okay so just being a; there's tons of companies out there that do this already. What is the it-factor for Gembah? It is really offering that full-scale design plus manufacturing offering where we can take something from idea all the way through the entire process. And the reason for that is I've seen a couple of my friends go through that process and they work with a designer maybe and then it's kind of disjointed. You have that experience where you go in the designer and they don't know if they can actually get that product manufactured. They go to the manufacturer and they say okay well what do I have to change? You can make a mass scale production here. Then you have to go back to designer and designers are charging them and then the manufacturer says well that's wrong. This whole process is just kind of just not straightforward. And so what we're trying to do is bringing experts along the way at each different part of the cycle so start off with the product design part of it and have experts that have made products and manufacturing at full scale manufacturing before and then sync them up with the factory so that you don't have that lack of communication; that gap in communication. That's resonating really well especially in the Amazon space. We've started to even expand our offering beyond just the product design into more of a research-based company to help with; you know there's tools out there like Helium 10 and so but we have a team over there that can help really expedite that process and enhance the Helium 10 experience. Joe: So expand, you mean expand beyond their current set of SKUs to a wider product line; is that what you mean by expand? Zack: Yeah, so let's say that you have a search term that you find that is really hot right now. There's a lot of investment that could go on into making a product completely new from scratch or incrementally innovating and paying some high design fees if you don't know what you're doing. What we can do is actually say okay you find this hot search term let's go talk to our factory networks and find out what the latest and greatest technology is for that search term and find out a product that isn't on the market yet and then you just go sell it, right? And we've done that successfully now for a couple of our customers and they actually have a seven-figure product now because of our research. Joe: That's amazing. Let's talk real-life examples if we can without naming names or products or anything like that but can you walk us through a relationship that you have where they've come to you, met with you, sat down with you and your team and what you did for them in terms of helping them design and develop the product and expand and find those manufacturers and so on and so forth. Zack: Absolutely so there's a customer that we have that's an eight-figure seller now and they came to us with a couple of issues. One is they're one of those companies that acquires a bunch of other smaller sellers and tries to roll them up. And so a lot of those sellers when they sell they made it from their factories on Alibaba or they may have gone over and met the guy in a subway or something like that and they're taking those guys at face value. Well first thing that we do with them is help optimize their supply chain. So if they have a bunch of different companies we're helping them really understand are they getting the best pricing, are they scaling the correct way, or maybe if they have similar products are we able to condense them into one single factory or maybe two factories instead of three different factories that they have. And so when you talk about that you're talking about giving them buying power. You're talking about giving them scale at the factory. I mean able to shave off like 20 to 30% of their product cost so at their bottom line we're talking; you're adding a ton of revenue or saving a ton of cost to their bottom line so that's kind of the first thing we did for this company. The next thing we did is… Joe: Pause right there just so that people understand and I maybe I don't need to do this because the audience is incredibly smart and adept but if you're selling; simple math 1,000 units a month and you're saving a $10 product cost. And correct me if I'm not getting this right Zack but $10 product cost and you're shaving off 20% that's from manufacturer to FBA in this case $2 per unit or $2,000 per month what that does everyone is that adds 24,000 to the bottom line and if your business is worth 3, 4 times that's going to add $7,500,000 to the overall value of your business when you eventually do exit it as well. So we're always talking about it's not the top line that only matters but working with some of it Zack and improving that bottom line and the efficiencies and the profitability; that's what really drives value. It's not just the top line. I'm sorry to interrupt but keep going. Okay, so you're working with this particular client to reduce their cost of goods sold and streamline and go on. Zack: That's right. So that's kind of the first set of operations that we helped them do. The next set is they identified a bunch of SKUs that they want to add to their brand or add to their existing brands. The first step is if they want to just white label a product because they see how we've been able to give them better pricing they'll come to us and say hey I just want to go white label this, I found a hot product, let's go find it. They set a price target and the quantity and 9 times out of 10 hit that price starting in quantity and get them adding SKUs; adding value to their overall brand, diversifying their brand, giving that perpetual continuous flywheel of bringing out new products that are really reasonable clip in terms of time. Like I said it's like three to six months. Joe: And they're using a software like Helium 10 to see what kind of sales are already occurring. They know that that particular product is a hot seller. They're just going to jump on the bandwagon so to speak? Zack: Sometimes yes I think they also have their own proprietary software that they use. Joe: There's the Jungle Scout, there's the Helium 10, there's a lot of things out there that can help with it but that's what they're doing is to research goods; okay this is something that sells well? I'm going to go ahead. Okay, I got it. Zack: And if they want to differentiate from that then they'll come to us and say okay I want to make a new or incremental innovation on this product. I looked at maybe some of the reviews or I have some sort of test market that I go out and look at and say hey what do you think about this product and they give some feedback and then they say I need to make X Y Z enhancements on a certain product. Our team will design it really fast. Usually we get those designs back in about a week we. And then we go put it out to our factory network and then they're able to again get on that flywheel of creating new products in three to six months. So obviously it's just a straight sourcing white label gig that can take a lot less time. That can take like a month maybe to get a product out to market. And then if it's more of a design-focused project then it can take like three to six months. Joe: Okay, and the designers are industrial designers doing real 3D renderings, things of that nature? Zack: Exactly right. So our process really starts off with sketching. So we'll do two to three sketches of each concept based on a conversation or a full project kickoff we have for each one of the SKUs and from there we then focus in on getting to that final rendering and then we'll then prepare you and enable you to have the real blueprints of the product; so the CAD drawings, all the build materials, all that stuff you need to really look like a professional when you go and start sourcing overseas. One of the biggest problems I see with a lot of sellers is that they try and go talk to these factories on Alibaba and they go and say oh I want to make X Y Z changes to your product not really giving them that collateral and saying these are the exact changes I want to make. And so the factories know that you're a fish in that circumstance. They know that they can take advantage of you. You go to them with a design sheet; full build materials, a full CAD drawing to show them exactly what you want, they're going to take you a lot more serious. And so what we're really trying to do is prepare you for that conversation whether it's through us or whether it's on your own factory network but we want to make sure you look like a professional. You can start getting better pricing because of that. Joe: Okay. So if I was the person that had the e-commerce store or Amazon business or both I can choose. I can take your renderings and go direct to my own manufacturer or I could have you bid it out to your manufacturers as well. Zack: Yeah, if you want to. We prefer that you build it out with our factories obviously. We tend to have better pricing than the average Joe. But if you want to go off on your own we're more than happy to do that. Joe: Yeah, so let's say that I hired you, do the relationships with your manufacturers transfer to me? Do I get to work with them directly or are you always in the middle? Zack: Typically if you're going through us to manage it you're using us as your face in China or Vietnam or India or wherever we're doing business with you. And the reason for that is because the relationship building is so important as well as we provide the quality control. So it's something you just take off your plate. You don't have to worry about it. You don't have to fly over to China. We just handle that relation for you. We're going to show up at the factory, we're going to build the relationship, we're going to constantly go to bat for you, try to get better pricing, make sure that if your factory is getting behind or they're starting to lose scale you can start having a conversation about either bringing you to the next level factory; the higher level or starting to scrutinize the build materials that they give back if it's an assembly factory and say hey maybe this component that you're sourcing you're marking up too much let me go find a different factory for that individual component and get it cheaper for you. So we do that a lot of times with packaging for example; if you go to an assembly factory they're going to upcharge the packaging. But we have the packaging factory work it that. We can compare pricing to make sure that your assembly factory isn't up charging you. Joe: Yeah, every dollar counts again to that bottom line. I had someone on the podcast a few weeks ago; folks if you haven't heard it somebody bought a business from Quiet Light and within a few weeks they did what Zack is talking about which is exchange out one part and get another part. I think he saved something like $4 per unit and per SKU and they sell thousands on a monthly basis. It was just a tremendous instant equity to his business and overall a bump in bottom-line revenue as well or profit I should say. Do you also do consolidated shipping so that if you've got three or four different clients that are manufacturing from different facilities can; do you do partial container load with different folks and reduce their overall shipping costs as well? Zack: Absolutely if they have factories that are located in essentially the central part of China that goes to the same port we absolutely can handle that. We're doing that right now with one of our customers actually. They have three different factories after three different products and they're trying to fill up a 40-foot high container and they want to make sure that we can make it happen for them and that's something we do pretty easily. So yeah we definitely do that. Joe: Educate me. Make me sound smarter than I am. Is it LTL less than container load is that what the acronym is? Zack: LCL, less than container load. Joe: LCL. Okay, thank you. Thank you very much. Alright, I'll try to remember that. I'll get it wrong the next time we do this and people are going to go, God, Joe you just can't get that right. But I don't do what you do so it's okay. I don't need to know what you know that's why people. Alright, so the design aspect going back to that again, how does somebody approach you? What's the ideal situation; is it do you have a form on your website site, do they just come to you and they have a conversation with you, how does it start, how does it work? Zack: Yep. So we have a form on our website which kind of gives you just the basic Name, Email, Phone, What you're trying to make, and then we'll have a conversation with you about what you're trying to make and we'll start the conversation with understanding if there's patent issues or some like that so that we can have an understanding if there's any legal obstacles we have to overcome. After that, it's really just talking with our industrial designer to pull out every information from you that they need to do their job which is who's your inspiration, what's your end-user goal, all the stuff you want to have in terms of making an awesome product and then we go to work. I mean we try to make this process as simple and easy for anyone who wants to come interact with us. Joe: So when we do valuations at Quiet Light which I hope we're doing well in advance of somebody exiting their business so that they get more value. Oftentimes people say well I don't really want to share my information with you until we have a nondisclosure agreement on file. Will you send that to me? Do you start with a nondisclosure agreement on file because you've got an awful lot of information about somebody and you can decide to go into the e-commerce business yourself? Zack: Yeah. We won't have a conversation with you until you sign a nondisclosure because of that. It's mutual. We make sure that all the IP is protected; all the conversations are protected because our business is really secretive, right? So that we make sure that everything is completely sound in terms of legal and protection for the IP. Joe: So theoretically if I decided to work with you, do I really never have to go to China? Zack: Never. I mean we encourage you to because it's always great to meet the factory and our team. But in terms of like reality, no you don't have to. Because we have someone who's going on your behalf showing up at the factory doing pretty much everything that you would do and they understand the culture because they're locals. Joe: You know we had Dave Ryan on the podcast and he's from EcomCrew and a big part of his contribution to that is manufacturing in China and he's an expert at it and his wife is actually from China originally and he lived there for a long time. And he talked about the benefit of that relationship. I've heard people talk about it when they go over and they meet the manufacturers and they go out to dinner drinks and drinks and drinks and drinks as understand. It changes things. They're willing to give you perhaps better pricing, better terms, things of that nature. Do you fully replace that or should a business owner also; it's still your relationship with the manufacturer but should they get over there as well? I mean what do you; I mean you said you think that or you think that they should go over but truly they don't ever have to. What's the benefit of them going if it's your relationship with your manufacturer? Zack: Yeah there is a business culture called Guanxi in China which is exactly what that is. It's basically how they operate in terms of the business language and how they operate from the business culture. And what they enjoy is the face to face interaction. There's a lot more conversations that can be had. You can learn about their family. You can talk about what kind of food they like to have, all that kind of stuff. There's a lot of value that comes out of building the relationship and like you said they'll start to give more concessions. There's a ton of people going to them every single day on Alibaba or in person that wants to do business with them but they value the people who are there for the long term and the people who really make an effort. And that's because that's just how their culture is. So while you don't have to do that because we're taking care of that we definitely enjoy, recommend, whatever you want to call it, you personally as the business owner of your business going over there. Maybe it's not every year; maybe it's every other year, maybe if you want to go there every six months, whatever it is we help facilitate that. So if you show up we're going to take you with our team over there. So you get to meet both our team which is also a part of it as well going to the factory. So yeah we'll take you straight from the plane to the hotel you choose. If you want to stay in our place you can stay at our place. And then from there, it's going to the factories. Joe: I love that. That's great. Zack: So you get to meet our team, see our office, if you want stay in our apartment we're more than happy to but really we give that white coat service in terms of making sure that you again look like a professional and look great in terms of the culture aspect over there. So we're just bridging that gap. Joe: That's awesome. It's standard business stuff and that's why we do video in addition to the audio on these because it's; look we can't meet everybody face to face but it's great to be able to see the whites and odds and talk to them when we talk to people all over the world. Talk to us about what are the biggest mistakes; let's say somebody doesn't want to use Gembah but educate them, help them, what are the biggest mistakes that e-commerce product owners, and marketers, FBA owners, what are they doing wrong at a dramatic level? Zack: That's simple. I think the number one thing I would take away is going to Alibaba unprepared. And the reason I say that is because Alibaba did a great job at bringing the factories to mass market. But they don't do a great job of explaining how the process works. And so there's a lot of things that you can go straight to Alibaba and get wrong. So I'm sure you've experienced this or maybe people; your audience has experienced this. We go to Alibaba, you ask for a price quote or something, you get a sample and then they change the price. Or you ask for an iteration of something they give you a price and then they make the sample and it's completely wrong. Or you order a product and then it's completely defective before you come back. I mean again this is just a software platform into a process that has been going on for thousands of years, right? Software is not going to necessarily overcome the hurdles that exist continuously in manufacturing which is defective products, building that culture, and building a relationship. So those are the three things that Alibaba really doesn't fix. And so what I would recommend again is to hire someone locally to fix those problems because there is a culture gap. You do need to build a relationship and you need to make sure that your products are not coming back defective. So those are the three things I think that are the most important in terms of doing business overseas that most people overlook. Joe: And what is the simplest thing somebody can do to reduce their costs? Zack: It depends on which part of the process they are in. So if they're; if you're talking about building something from scratch it's going to the factories and getting multiple bids with an actual blueprint. Like I always use the analogy of building a house; you wouldn't build a house without an architect. You shouldn't build a product without a designer and an engineer. You're just going to cut corners. They're going to take their interpretation of what you're trying to make and their interpretation is let's make this the cheapest way possible and charge the most they possibly can. Joe: It seems logical when you put it that way. Zack: Right. I mean who wouldn't do that? It's the same thing when you're building a home. If you go straight to the builder and you say I want to build a 2,500 square foot house. Okay, I'm going to build my interpretation of that and I'm going to put it up as fast as I can and as cheap as possible. Why wouldn't they do that? That's the way that we approach it. Joe: Okay. Any tricks or tips or advice in terms of shipping which is a big cost to freight when people are shipping products from China to Amazon or to their own 3PL or whatever the case might be; any tips there? Zack: Yeah. I think again always get multiple bids for that and then always make sure that your compliance is in order especially if you're building a new product. These products have never been out in the market before. There's a ton of compliance measures that need to be taken to make sure that they're labeled correctly. Like for example if you're selling a children's product. They need to be tested. They need to have a CA Prop 65, ASDM testing, a bunch of other testing that needs to happen and be labeled a certain way. If it's intended for infants it need to be choke; make sure there's no small parts that can choke them. They need to be labeled on the packaging as well a certain way. So those are all things that if you don't do those correctly they can get flagged at customs and ultimately turned back. And the factory is not going to reimburse you for the mistake that you made in not going to your compliance in order. And so that is a business killer. So that is the number one tip I can give to someone in terms of logistics and compliance is make sure you have all that in order before you bring a new product into the market. Those are all things that we help do obviously. Joe: Good advice and you do that again but what the heck is Gembah? How did you come up with that name? What does it mean? Zack: In Japanese Kaizen manufacturing theory there's the word Gembah which means the place where value is created on the manufacturing floor. So that is where it's based off of. In Chinese gembah means let's do this. So it's kind of a dual meaning both from the Japanese manufacturing and then the fun side which is gembah. Joe: Very cool. I got it. You just mentioned manufacturing; I want to go back to something you said earlier which was your manufacturers in China or Thailand or wherever they may be you named a few countries. How difficult is it now in this economy and this environment with all the trade wars to find something that's being manufactured currently in China and get a quote on their factories in Thailand and the Philippines and so on that can do the same thing? Zack: Yeah that's a great question and we get that a lot now from our customers and I think there are some products that are more easily transferred to a different country. If you're talking cut and sew apparel for places like Vietnam, glassware you can get in India pretty well, if you're talking injection molded items it's starting to pop up in Vietnam. You just have to make sure that you understand they move a lot slower. Especially in places like Vietnam, Cambodia, Philippines, and the reason for that is because they don't have the raw materials that places like India and China do. So they're importing almost everything from places like China, South Korea, India to get into their factories. So that adds time to the lead time of you making a product. So most Amazon sellers for example don't have the luxury of waiting 60 to 90 days to get a product into their hands of their consumers whereas these big e-commerce brands who spend a lot more time and money on R and D and come up with new products maybe 12 months in advance they can take that luxury and move their production over to different countries. So that's what you're seeing like the Nike the Adidas of the world moving into Vietnam or moved a lot of the production into Vietnam because they can do that. They have the operational capacity to do that. Joe: So for the six, seven, eight-figure brands that we know and we talked to is it worth it time-wise and financially; are they saving costs in terms of cost of goods sold or are they just comfortable knowing that they're not going to have to deal with any trade war issues in the future? Zack: I think that's a true business decision. While I would say the prices that we've seen between India and China specifically are not competitive. China's way more cost-friendly in terms of like apples to apples comparison on the exact same products I've seen 5x in India. Vietnam is pretty competitive because everyone is starting to knock at their door. So I've seen garment and apparel prices go up by 4 to 7% just cost of good before you get to the shipping and logistics side of things. So they're smart. They know that everyone's trying to come to them and their production lines are moving at a high clip now. So I think it's really you have to understand the entire landscape of your true landed cost and lead time before you actually make that decision of moving production over to Vietnam because it's not as easy as it sounds operationally. Joe: Right. Makes sense. Are you renegotiating with any of your Chinese manufacturers to offset the tariffs? Zack: Of course. Joe: They're okay with that; what are they like? Zack: Yeah, I mean it's a geopolitical issue that's going on and they don't like it either. Whoever side they end up taking is on them and whoever side we as Americans take is on us but there's certain things you can do to help them share the tax burden. There's certain things you can do especially with molds that you can start recouping your mold costs if you want to create some injection molded item. That's the kind of stuff that we do and we're talking about making you look like a professional. These are the things that we are bringing to the table when we start the negotiation process. And so because of the geopolitical landscape that we have this is part of the conversation now. Joe: It sounds like a really, really important conversation to have. How do people find you, how do they get started, that kind of thing? Zack: Yeah. So the best approach would be to go on our website www.gembah.com G-E-M-B-A-H.com and fill out a form and we'll be in touch with you as soon as you fill that out. Joe: Geographically where are you located? Zack: So we are headquartered in Austin, Texas; the barbecue capital of the world. Joe: And all you have to do today is put it on your dashboard because it's; I've talked to people in August here right so it'll grow right there. Yeah, I love Austin; lots of folks down there that we work with. Zack: Yup, and then our office in China is in the southern part in a place called Dongguan which is close to the Guangzhou area; it's the manufacturing capital for the south. Joe: So you get the grilling capital and barbecue capital and the manufacturing capital. I think the folks here in North Carolina may argue with you about the barbecue capital but I'm for me. Zack: Yeah we all love your sauce; I've come to learn that it's a saucy type of barbecue. I prefer the sauceless more of a dry rub which fits me well in Texas but I still like the Carolina barbecue. It's great. Joe: I won't say I disagree. Alright man, it's been great having you on the podcast. I'm looking forward to hearing some great successes from some of your clients who I know. I know a few that are working with you; people that have bought businesses from Quiet Light and sold to Quiet Light working with you now too. So it's been great having you on the podcast. I look forward to having the audience reach out to you and work with you and learn and get better pricing and better products out in the future. Thanks for your time today. Zack: Thank you, Joe. I'm really, really glad I could be here. I appreciate it. Links and Resources: Gembah Instagram Facebook
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Speaking with a salesperson in your second language can be difficult at times. In this episode of Real Talk, Andrew and Suzanne discuss the ways you can respond properly in shopping situations. Fun facts The world’s largest shopping mall is called the New South China Mall and is located in Dongguan, China. It has moreRead More
I was on the express train back to Guangzhou from Dongguan. A scene of a mother and her son beside me triggered to think through things about raising kids. I think parents should definitely know these things. Different age of kids, we need to let our kids experiencw different things. Don't mix and mess. It is not good. I also share how parents can help their kids attain a bright and happy future. Things they can do to help them. Some good options parents should consider while raising their kids to help them know who they are.
In questo primo atto della seconda puntata "cinesua" di Ultima Fila Lorenzo porta avanti i suoi sotterfugi per beneficiare il più possibile dell'assenza di Andrea. Spinto dal senso di colpa però continua a confezionare puntate con i contributi caricati online dal Nepori prima di sparire in Cina. In questo episodio un brillante Saverio Alloggio ci accoglie nel campus di Huawei a Dongguan e poi ci spiega che cos'è la famosa Cozza Pelosa. Roberto Catania si diletta invece dandoci due informazioni importanti: la prima riguarda il viaggio in Cina dei Nostri eroi, la seconda invece. (Continua...) Avete qualcosa di completamente insensato da dire sulla tecnologia? Avete notizie di Andrea disperso in Cina? Mandateci un vocale su Whatsapp al +39 351 5320334
Jack Ma said last month that China needs to focus on "new manufacturing", while the U.S. launched a trade war in order to bring "old manufacturing" back to the world's largest economy. Putting the contrast aside, the focus on new manufacturing has never been stronger in China. Efforts to build smart factories and government subsidies toward the initiative are growing across the country. A recent report published by the China Development Research Foundation, a think tank initiated by the Development Research Center of the State Council, documented some of such campaigns. In one example, Dongguan, a small city in coastal Guangdong province, has cut 250,000 jobs, or around 5% of the city's registered labor force, during a three-year "robot-for-humans" campaign. The city government spent RMB200 million (US$29 million) each year to finance companies to upgrade automation equipment. A company in Hangzhou has cut the number of workers to 11 to 13 per production line from 200 to 300 per production line ten years ago. Another kitchen appliances maker in Hangzhou received government subsidies equaling 5% of the costs to upgrade its production lines. Now it is able to cut labor force by over one third from three years ago and is aiming to achieve fully automated productions in ten years. Shenzhen government is spending RMB500 million (US$72 million) to support robotics, wearable and smart equipment sectors locally each year. Our guest of this episode of China Money Podcast, Hao Jingfang, is one of the authors of the report. Hao is also a science fiction writer and won the Hugo Award for Best Novelette for "Folding Beijing" in 2016, becoming the first female writer in Asia to receive the award. China's new manufacturing efforts echo Hao's observation that, "Whenever there’s a technological breakthrough, it is an advantage for Chinese tech companies to test the idea in a massive market." As companies, governments and investors push to "upgrade" Chinese manufacturing to full automation and "intelligent factories", a large number of jobs will disappear. But the report concludes that with careful management and retraining of the labor force, China will be able to overcome the coming labor disruptions from mass adoptions of robots and AI. However, Hao, a PhD graduate from Tsinghua University with degrees in both physics and economics, is concerned over the difficulties China will face transitioning from "technology adopters" to "technology originators." "A lot of companies are just too short-sighted. Because in the past, there were many opportunities for those companies to make quick money...Perhaps there’s no patience in these companies to aspire for bigger things. And also the investors, they want to just copy the fastest successful business model. So they are not patient enough to make long term investment," Hao told China Money Network during during an interview on the sidelines of the Annual Meeting of the New Champions held by the World Economic Forum in Tianjin last month. Read an interview Q&A below. Also subscribe to China Money Podcast for free in the iTunes store, or subscribe to our weekly newsletter. Below is an edited version of the interview. Q: You have written science fictions about China at a distant future. And as a director working at China Development Research Foundation, you have a unique vintage point observing China's technology space. What's your overall view of how the Chinese technology sector has grown and developed? A: The Chinese technology sector has grown quite rapidly. It has advantages of a large (domestic) market and close relationships to its customers. Whenever there's a technological breakthrough, it is an advantage for Chinese tech companies to test the idea in a massive market. However, there are some fallback too. The one main problem is the lack of basic research. Investments in basic research in China is comparatively lower comparing to developed countries.
In this episode Phil speaks with Mike Knapp, a former lawyer and ex-Google software engineer turned entrepreneur. Mike co-founded Shoes of Prey, a company that allows women to design their own shoes. He has a passion for investigating new business models and writing code and has previously lived in San Francisco, Shanghai, Dongguan and LA.Today, Mike is an Entrepreneur In Residence at River City Labs. *********Thanks for listening! If you'd like to be the first to know when new episodes are available, subscribe on Apple Podcasts, follow the show on Spotify or sign up for the insider's newsletter!
On today’s show, we spoke with Jeremy Kopek, Founder & CEO @ Noa Sleep Noa Sleep is a specialty e-commerce company founded in Canada and currently operating in Singapore, Hong Kong and Australia. Prior to founding Noa Sleep in 2016, Jeremy served as a board advisory member for a private equity firm based in Beijing, China. In 2015-2016, he acted as a strategic consultant for four Chinese retailers/manufacturers, leading their restructuring efforts to build multichannel strategies known as online-to-offline (O2O) services, assisting the launch of retail and online stores across Tmall.com and JD.com, and more. From 2006 to 2016, Jeremy served as Head of Strategy, Marketing and Product for Structube, one of Canada's leading home furnishing retailers. During this time in which he became fluent in Mandarin, Jeremy led the digital transformation of the organization, built a unified omnichannel retail expansion strategy and managed branding, marketing and advertising teams. He also was responsible for developing relationships with more than 100 manufacturers across China, Singapore, Hong Kong, India, Vietnam and the United States while managing an office based in Dongguan, China. I always enjoy speaking with Jeremy as he is the smartest person I know when it comes to China. On the show, we spoke about: How he started Noa Sleep. Why he decided to start in China first and the massive opportunity in that market The scale of ecommerce in the Asian market How cost per acquisition was a decision factor Advice for entrepreneurs looking to enter China The three key retail trends he’s keeping his eye on I really enjoyed my conversation with Jeremy and I learned a ton about developing the Asian market. Enjoy the conversation! Let us know what you think. What types of guests would like to see on the show? What topics interest you the most? Send me your thoughts at nectar@thepnr.com Subscribe to iTunes here | Subscribe to Google Play here
China Jedi: Expat Life | Chinese Culture | Business | Travel | China
Warning: This episode contains strong language and scenes of explicit stupidity! In this episode, China Jedi goes on a weekend trip with the reggae, rock, pop band known as the Sun Yat Sens (SYS). They travel to the kingdom of Dongguan to play a couple of gigs at two separate venues - The Treehouse and One For The Road. Get a real life insight in what it's like being a foreign band in China as they encounter foam and pool parties, a live big belly Buddha, police raids, a failed factory practice session, Bob's underpants, voice loss, sweaty ball syndrome, plastic fruit, ice creams in the bathroom and much, much more! For those living, working or travelling in China or interested in learning about Chinese culture, expat life and foreigners perceptions. Live, work, travel, do business and have fun in China. May the smile be with you!
Today’s show is something that I feel is long overdue. I am always getting legal questions when it comes to selling on Amazon. We have with us CJ Rosenbaum, the founder of Amazon Sellers Lawyer, to help answer some questions about Amazon account suspension. CJ has been representing entrepreneurs ever since he graduated from law school. He got started with Amazon sellers after client started investigating buying an Amazon based business. After the client managed to buy the business, he immediately had issues with Amazon account suspension and ASINs getting knocked off. He came to CJ because when he tried to find someone for legal help and the only people in the industry were non-lawyer consultant types that didn’t know much about being a seller. CJ has always enjoyed the challenge of working with entrepreneurs. When he looked into, he found that there were really no lawyers involved. So he jumped in with both feet. He went from doing nothing but trying cases in court, to solely focusing on Amazon entrepreneurs. He has grown to four lawyers and six staff in New York. If you use Amazon Sellers Lawyer to handle your Amazon account suspension issue, you’ll know that whoever works on your case is a college educated paralegal. They are opening offices in London and Dublin and are looking to open an office in Mumbai. They have an office open in Shenzhen, China, with plans to expand into Guangzhou and Dongguan. Amazon Account Suspension The number fear of any Amazon seller is an Amazon account suspension. Not picking a bad product. Not shipping issues. It’s getting that email that Amazon has suspended your account, they’re holding your money, and charging you storage fees. Account suspension can be divided into two categories: non-intellectual property and intellectual property suspension. Non-intellectual property suspension is from late shipments, bad feedback, etc, and are not really legal issues. The other half is solely intellectual property. This is another brand complaining about you as a seller and doing a sweep of their listings claiming your violating intellectual property laws. About 95%-98% of the IP, intellectual property, claims, in the US, are entirely baseless. They are bogus complaints meant to thwart competition. These are coming from major brands like Wal-Mart, Samsung, Major League Baseball and other companies from around the world. CJ and his team stand up to these companies. Almost every time, these brands withdraw their complaints. Amazon Sellers Lawyer don’t charge outrageous fees for this service. If you hire a lawyer to defend you in court, it can quickly cost you tens of thousands of dollars. CJ is looking to get you back to selling without charging you an arm and a leg to do so. Amazon Account Suspension from Non-IP Complaints These are not really legal issues, it has more to do with Amazon’s internal regulation. They come from customer complaints about late shipments, bad feedback, and the like. The first step is to write a plan of action if you find that your account has been suspended because of a non-IP complaint. A plan of action is a practice in persuasive writing. You’re trying to persuade the person at Amazon to reinstate your selling privileges, rather than asking for more information or saying no. As lawyers, CJ and his team are trained to identify issues and write persuasively. Writing a Plan of Action There are three parts to a plan of action. Part 1 The root cause. This doesn’t mean admitting to doing something wrong that you didn’t do. You don’t have to admit to wrongdoing if you didn’t actually do something wrong. The root cause can usually be something that you can do better to avoid a customer getting a product that they feel is not authentic. You need to look into your account and figure out what cause the customer or Amazon to have an issue with your account. Part 2 The immediate corrective action that you took.
Read the full story with pictures at http://www.otsuka.co.jp/company/globalnews/detail.php?id=234&date=2016-08-06 Otsuka Sims (Guangdong) Beverage Co., Ltd. has been sponsoring the annual POCARI SWEAT 3-on-3 Basketball Tournament since 2006. The aim of the tournament, in which teams of 3 compete, is to encourage consumers to develop and maintain healthier bodies through exercise and good hydration habits. At the start of each summer's team recruitment drive, basketball fans from many regions of China, including Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macau, have come to Foshan to participate in the POCARI SWEAT Battle of the City Heroes. The POCARI SWEAT 3-on-3 Basketball Tournament has developed a strong reputation and become recognized and respected among the sporting community. Compared to last year, this year's tournament added 2 more divisions totaling 8: Guangzhou, Shanghai, Shenzhen, Zhuhai, Dongguan, Jiangmen, Foshan and Huizhou. Also this year, the number of cities holding competitions increased to 8, the number of teams increased from 600 to 912, nearly one thousand athletes increased adding up to 3,648, and the number of spectators increased from 7,000 to about 9,000. Each year, the previous year’s champion team is invited to appear in the tournament poster. This year’s media coverage has included the Shenzhen Entertainment channel, Jiangmen Xinhui channel, Huizhou news channel, Guangzhou TV news channel, which will report on and broadcast the competitions in their respective cities. The company has been hosting this tournament for 11 years. During this period, it has broadened publicity for POCARI SWEAT and heightened consumers’ interest and understanding of the product. The tournament has increased the public's faith in and goodwill toward Otsuka and established in the minds of consumers a brand image for POCARI SWEAT as a new awareness of ion supply drink.
1-In calo l'appoggio a un accordo globale sul clima. Lo dice un sondaggio realizzato in venti paesi. Lunedì, a Parigi, comincia l'attesissimo vertice delle Nazioni Unite (Gianni Silvestrini, autore del libro “2 Gradi”).2-Erdogan e il solito fastidio per la stampa. I due giornalisti arrestati per l'inchiesta sulle armi ai ribelli siriani rischiano l'ergastolo (Dimitri Bettoni, Osservatorio Balcani Caucaso).3-Myanmar. L'ora della verità per Aung San Suu Kyi. Dopo la vittoria elettorale è il momento del compromesso con i militari (Giovanni Malavasi, Terre des Hommes Italia Yangon).4-Dongguan, il simbolo del declino cinese? Dieci anni fa ospitava le aziende occidentali che si trasferivano in Cina. Oggi quelle aziende chiudono o si spostano nel sud-est asiatico (Gabriele Battaglia, Pechino).5-I conflitti umanitari, quelle veri e quelli falsi. Una terminologia sempre più abusata, per interessi politici e calcoli strategici (Alfredo Somoza).6-Doping. Dopo la Russia potrebbe toccare al Kenya. E i suoi atleti protestano. A Nairobi occupata per diversi giorni la sede della federazione di atletica leggera (Dario Falcini)
1-In calo l'appoggio a un accordo globale sul clima. Lo dice un sondaggio realizzato in venti paesi. Lunedì, a Parigi, comincia l'attesissimo vertice delle Nazioni Unite (Gianni Silvestrini, autore del libro “2 Gradi”).2-Erdogan e il solito fastidio per la stampa. I due giornalisti arrestati per l'inchiesta sulle armi ai ribelli siriani rischiano l'ergastolo (Dimitri Bettoni, Osservatorio Balcani Caucaso).3-Myanmar. L'ora della verità per Aung San Suu Kyi. Dopo la vittoria elettorale è il momento del compromesso con i militari (Giovanni Malavasi, Terre des Hommes Italia Yangon).4-Dongguan, il simbolo del declino cinese? Dieci anni fa ospitava le aziende occidentali che si trasferivano in Cina. Oggi quelle aziende chiudono o si spostano nel sud-est asiatico (Gabriele Battaglia, Pechino).5-I conflitti umanitari, quelle veri e quelli falsi. Una terminologia sempre più abusata, per interessi politici e calcoli strategici (Alfredo Somoza).6-Doping. Dopo la Russia potrebbe toccare al Kenya. E i suoi atleti protestano. A Nairobi occupata per diversi giorni la sede della federazione di atletica leggera (Dario Falcini)
1-In calo l'appoggio a un accordo globale sul clima. Lo dice un sondaggio realizzato in venti paesi. Lunedì, a Parigi, comincia l'attesissimo vertice delle Nazioni Unite (Gianni Silvestrini, autore del libro “2 Gradi”).2-Erdogan e il solito fastidio per la stampa. I due giornalisti arrestati per l'inchiesta sulle armi ai ribelli siriani rischiano l'ergastolo (Dimitri Bettoni, Osservatorio Balcani Caucaso).3-Myanmar. L'ora della verità per Aung San Suu Kyi. Dopo la vittoria elettorale è il momento del compromesso con i militari (Giovanni Malavasi, Terre des Hommes Italia Yangon).4-Dongguan, il simbolo del declino cinese? Dieci anni fa ospitava le aziende occidentali che si trasferivano in Cina. Oggi quelle aziende chiudono o si spostano nel sud-est asiatico (Gabriele Battaglia, Pechino).5-I conflitti umanitari, quelle veri e quelli falsi. Una terminologia sempre più abusata, per interessi politici e calcoli strategici (Alfredo Somoza).6-Doping. Dopo la Russia potrebbe toccare al Kenya. E i suoi atleti protestano. A Nairobi occupata per diversi giorni la sede della federazione di atletica leggera (Dario Falcini)
全文请参阅微信周六第三条。This is NEWS Plus Special English. I'm Mark Griffiths in Beijing. Here is the news. A Chinese woman who's become known as the Queen of Ivory has been charged with smuggling ivory worth millions of dollars by a court in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. The Associated Press cited a conservation group, Elephant Action League, as saying that Yang Feng-lan is the most prominent ivory trafficker as so far to be charged so far in the war against elephant poaching. She is believed to be behind the trafficking of a huge quantity of ivory over several years. Yang was reported to have smuggled almost 2 tons of ivory worth 2.7 million U.S. dollars between 2000 and 2014. She has been charged along with two Tanzanian men, who were allegedly connected with international poachers, traders and buyers. In January, China destroyed 6 metric tons of illegal ivory seized over the years in Dongguan, Guangdong province. In May, the government destroyed 660 kilograms of confiscated ivory, the second such action against wildlife crime this year. The illegal ivory was dumped into crushers in Beijing and ground down by the State Forestry Administration and the General Administration of Customs. Combating wildlife trafficking is one of the major outcomes of President Xi Jinping's recently state visit to the United States.
In this episode, Ness returns and reviews the dreaded Babymetal. Milky continues to hate the Florida Man. Pouch is excited for the upcoming Star Wars theme park. The boys eulogize a lot of people. Pouch here. I had no idea we would have that much to talk about, but in the end, it turned out great. We got to say to goodbye to a ton of people whom we admired over the years. Intro/outro: Babymetal - Babymetal Black.Get a Load of ThisFlorida Man Tries to Drive Away while Car is Being Towed26 Cockroaches Found Living in Dongguan Man's EarShit We MentionedFor more information about the topics discussed on this episode, go to the official Dropping Loads website.
This is NEWS Plus Special English. I'm Ding Lulu in Beijing. Here is the news. China has unveiled an urbanization plan for the next six years in an effort to steer the country's urbanization onto a human-centered and environmentally friendly path. The plan says urbanization is the road that China must take in its modernization drive, and it serves as a strong engine for sustainable and healthy economic growth. The National New-type Urbanization Plan 2014 to 2020 was released by the party central committee and the State Council, China's cabinet. It says domestic demand is the fundamental impetus for China's development, and the greatest potential for expanding domestic demand lies in urbanization. At present, the proportion of permanent urban residents to China's total population stands at 54 percent. The figure is lower than developed countries' average of 80 percent, and 60 percent for developing countries. Registered urban population, or those who hold a "hukou" under China's household registration system, accounted for only 36 percent in total population by the end of last year. An increasing urbanization ratio will help raise the income of rural residents through employment in cities and unleash the consumption potential. It will also bring about large demands for investment in urban infrastructure, public service facilities and housing construction, thus providing continuous impetus for economic development. This is NEWS Plus Special English. China plans to develop new energy vehicles as one of the multi-strategy to tackle air pollution. New energy vehicles are becoming a new trend, after the number of smoggy days in the country hit a record 52 days last year. Industry experts have predicted this year will witness a surge in the sale of new energy cars. But daunting challenges abound. Shenzhen city in southern China boasts the biggest electric public transport system in the world. It has 3,000 electric buses and over 800 electric taxies. But the city only has less than 100 private electric cars, and most of them are being used outside the city. The reason is that different cities use different battery charging standards, and some electric cars in Shenzhen can only be charged at the nearby city Dongguan. Shenzhen officials say institutional barriers and legal impediments are issues that hinder the construction of charging infrastructure in Shenzhen. You're listening to NEWS Plus Special English. I'm Ding Lulu in Beijing. Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba has decided to begin its initial public offering process in the United States. The company says the move is to make Alibaba more global, as well as allowing it to enhance its transparency. Analysts have predicted that Alibaba's initial public offering will raise billions of U.S. dollars, making it the largest IPO in the United States in recent years. Alibaba has showed more aggressive ambitions for international expansion and plans to extend its public status in the Chinese capital market. Alibaba operates two of China's most popular online shopping services, Taobao.com and T-Mall. The two platforms' total transaction value exceeded one trillion yuan, or more than 160 billion U.S. dollars in the last fiscal year. This is NEWS Plus Special English. In-home nursing is emerging as a new choice in easing the pressure of China's aging population. A nursing home in Lanzhou City of northwest China has announced it will incorporate more healthcare options, as the services of this in-home care agency enjoy growing popularity. According to local government data, by the end of 2012, more than 200,000 seniors in Lanzhou had accessed the services of the agency since it began operating in 2009. In-home care agencies, also dubbed as "virtual nursing homes," guarantee similar services as brick-and-mortar nursing homes. But they are delivered directly to people's homes instead of in residential nursing facilities, which are generally very crowded. The trend is taking on prominence as China grays more rapidly, and conventional homes for the elderly face a shortfall in resources. It is in this context that virtual nursing homes have sprung up in many provinces in eastern and central China. They offer convenience, and slashed demand on resources. The first such service opened in Suzhou near Shanghai in 2007. You're listening to NEWS Plus Special English. I'm Ding Lulu in Beijing. China has set up a special committee to supervise organ donations and transplants. The new committee will help to improve donation rules, coordinate between related agencies, and motivate organ donation. It will also evaluate and review clinical and managerial ability in medical institutions, and submit the results to the National Health and Family Planning Commission. China has the world's second-largest demand for organ transplant. About 300,000 patients suffer from organ failure each year, but only around 10,000 organ transplants are performed due to a lack of donors. China adopted an organ donation system in 2010, with the non-governmental Red Cross Society serving as an independent third party for supervising and facilitating donation procedures. Last year, the National Health and Family Planning Commission issued a new rule to prevent human intervention, and ensure fairness and transparency in the sector. The rule stipulates that donor organs must be distributed automatically through a national system. This is NEWS Plus Special English. You're listening to NEWS Plus Special English. I'm Ding Lulu in Beijing. You can access our program by logging onto NEWSPlusRadio.cn. If you have any comments or suggestions, please let us know by e-mailing us at mansuyingyu@cri.com.cn. That's mansuyingyu@cri.com.cn. Now the news continues. The British inventor of the World Wide Web wants a digital bill of rights to protect Internet users from surveil
at Ibiza Lake Club | Dongguan (China) - Jan.2012 by Kajan Chow
Now that you've lived in Hong Kong for a day or two, you might feel the need to venture out to buy some essentials like food, clothing and water. In other countries this would be a pretty routine affair. Go down to the corner store, flash that winning smile and walk out with your arms full of free goods. Sadly, in Hong Kong's relentlessly capitalist society, people expect you to pay.And that's where this lesson comes in. Regardless of whether you're haggling ten bucks off the price of that Dongguan shirt or trying to save twenty cents on your next purchase of life-giving mango juice, you'll need to know how to talk about money in Cantonese. Which is why we spend our lesson today covering the money, learning how to talk about prices, and then demanding lower prices repeatedly and insistently, although we leave the yelling and screaming up to you.
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