Podcasts about Guanxi

The 2025 season is almost at an end. The Tour of Guanxi is nearing its exhilarating climax, riders have started to upload their “2025: Completed it, mate” Instagram posts, and Harry and Stu have recorded their final episode of Life In The Peloton's Race Radio.  These guys have had a great season; they've been on form from January right the way through to October, and they're really finishing on a high.  Here's what old mate Harry had to say about this final episode of LITP's Race Radio: "The 2025 season is over, so it's time to remind ourselves of the amazing racing we enjoyed throughout the year. Stu and I decided to keep it fun in this last ep – not that being serious has ever been our forte – with a few games that you can play along to while listening, including cryptic headlines and picking our teams of the year. Thanks to Mitch for the incredible opportunity this year, and we hope you've all enjoyed our podcasts. See you on the road." As always, I really hope you've enjoyed having Harry and Stu in your ears these past 10 months as much as I have. I've been out of the peloton for a few years now, but having these two boys with their finger on the pulse of the racing scene, some amazing connections and great interviews, and heaps of enthusiasm for the sport we all love has really been one of the highlights of my year.  Harry, Stu - thanks for a great season. Put your feet up and enjoy a few cold ones this winter; you've earned it.  Cheers Mitch

#BeAGoodFriend and check out episode #145 of #FeeneyTalksWithFriends featuring Heather Colp.It was great to talk with my #friend, Heather! Heather is the Owner of Colp Building Consulting. We talked about:Avi #91 & #119 (minute 1)Colp Building Consulting sponsors Friends of Feeney (minute 2)Explain “Designing and Consulting” to a 3rd Grader  (minute 4)Glastonbury Education Foundation (minute 6)Living and working in Japan, Taiwan and China (minute 8)Guanxi (minute 11)Projects: First, Last, Best, Worst (minute 12)Heather's husband, Dave (minute 19)Heather played high school basketball (minute 23)Podcast sponsors (minute 27)3 Keys (Sponsored by New England Door & Security) for being an owner (minute 27)High Meadow Day Camp (minute 30)Heather's sons, Jai and Quinn (minute 33)Contemporary Design (minute 33)Architect or Teacher? (minute 37)Neila's homemade cookies (minute 38)Arthur Murray Dance Studio (minute 41)Heather's first restaurant in CT was Luna Pizza (minute 45)Heather's favorite restaurant (minute 49)Larry “The Legend” Bird #33 (minute 51)What makes David a good #friend? (minute 53)Recommendations (minute 55)Visiting Philadelphia (minute 58)Upcoming events (minute 59)Closing remarks (minute 1.02)Podcast Sponsors: DirectLine Media - www.directlinemediaproductions.com/The Fix IV - www.thefixivtherapy.comWest Hartford Lock - www.westhartfordlock.comKeating Agency Insurance - www.keatingagency.comGoff Law Group - www.gofflawgroup.netParkville Management - www.parkvillemanagement.comLuna Pizza - www.lunapizzawh.com/lunas-menuPeoplesBank - www.bankatpeoples.comFloat 41 - www.float41.comMaximum Beverage - www.maximumbev.comSally and Bob's - www.sallyandbobs.com

Last time we spoke about the battle of Luodian. Following a significant counter-offensive, the initial optimism waned as casualties escalated and morale plummeted. The strategically vital town of Luodian became a pivotal battleground, with the Chinese determined to defend it at all costs. Despite heroic efforts, including a daring nighttime assault, the overwhelming Japanese forces employed superior tactics and artillery, steadily gaining ground.  As September progressed, Japanese reinforcements flooded the frontline, exacerbating the already dire situation for the Chinese defenders. By late September, the fierce struggle to control Luodian culminated in a forced retreat by the Chinese forces, marking a significant turning point in the fight for Shanghai. Though they withdrew, the Chinese army earned newfound respect, having showcased their tenacity against a formidable adversary. The battle became a testament to their resilience amid overwhelming odds, setting the stage for the tumultuous conflict that lay ahead in their fight for sovereignty.   #160 The Battle of Shanghai Part 5: Fighting along the Wusong Creek 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. The tides of warfare had shifted in Shanghai. In late September, the Japanese high command dispatched three divisions to the Shanghai area, starting with the 101st Division landing on September 22. This was followed by the 9th and 13th Divisions, bolstering Japan's military presence to five divisions in the city, despite the Chinese forces numbering over 25 divisions. However, the true dynamics of the confrontation revealed a complex picture: while the Chinese boasted numerical superiority, the Japanese divisions, each comprising around 15,000 soldiers, were supported by nearly 90,000 troops when including marines and infantry. China's units, often as small as 5,000 men, made their effective deployment difficult. The Japanese forces also leveraged their advantages in materials, aircraft, and naval artillery, which could effectively target critical positions along the Chinese front. With these reinforcements in place, Japanese commanders, including Matsui, devised a bold strategy: to execute a powerful thrust across Wusong Creek and advance toward Suzhou Creek. The goal was to encircle and annihilate the main Chinese force in a maneuver they had envisioned since their arrival in China.  Ogishima Shizuo, a reservist of the 101st division had just been through his first night at the front. Within his trench, soldiers leapt up from their slumber to a hail of bullets. Ogishima looked over the edge of the trench. It was still dark, making it hard to discern what was happening, but he thought he saw a flash of a helmet in a foxhole near the creek's edge. It wasn't a Japanese helmet. Suddenly, it hit him that the gunfire wasn't a mistake. “It's the enemy! The enemy!” he yelled. Others began to shout as well. “The enemy! They're behind us! Turn around!” Under the cloak of darkness, a Chinese unit had managed to bypass the Japanese lines and launch an attack from the rear. The sound of aggressive gunfire erupted, and a Japanese heavy machine gun joined in the fray. However, most of the bullets were fired haphazardly into the night. A force of 50 Chinese were firing on them. Japanese officers ordered the men to storm their positions, seeing infantrymen leap over their trench into the barrage. The Japanese and Chinese fired at each other and tossed grenades when close enough. The Japanese jumped into the Chinese foxholes and stabbed at them with bayonets. Ogishima thrust his bayonet into the belly of a Chinese soldiers, marking his first kill. He felt no emotion. Within minutes the little battle was over, every Chinese soldier lay dead, it was a suicide mission. Ogishima saw countless comrades dead around him, it was a scene of carnage. It was the morning of October 7, the 101st Division had crossed Wusong Creek from the north in the early hours of October 6, specifically, only half of the division had made it across. The other half remained on the far side, unable to get their boats past the 300 feet of water protected by unseen Chinese machine guns and mortar crews that would open fire at the slightest hint of movement on the northern bank. Dozens of corpses floated in the murky water, serving as grim evidence of the carnage from the previous 24 hours. Ogishima, alongside tens of thousands of Japanese soldiers were entering the most brutal part of the Shanghai campaign. Matsui's vision of a quick and decisive end to the Shanghai campaign, would not come to be. Matsui detailed his plans in an order issued on September 29. The attack was to be conducted from west to east by the 9th, 3rd, and 101st Infantry Divisions. The 11th Infantry Division was assigned to follow the 9th Division, securing the right flank against potential Chinese counterattacks from the west. The 13th Infantry Division would serve as the reserve. The objective was to capture Dachang, an ancient town encircled by a medieval-style wall, and then advance as quickly as possible to breach the Chinese lines north of Suzhou Creek. Matsui had arranged an unusually high concentration of troops; the three divisions were aligned along a front that spanned only three miles. This meant that each division had less than half the front length that the Japanese field manual typically recommended. The decision to compress the divisions into such a narrow front was partly to compensate for the artillery shortcomings that were still hindering the Japanese offensive. The Japanese attackers confronted a formidable and well-prepared enemy. After extensive discussions, the Chinese commanders ultimately recognized that they had no choice but to shorten their front line. Defending Liuhang, a town situated along the route from Luodian to Dachang, had proven too costly, offering no prospect of victory. Chen Cheng, the commander of the Chinese left wing, had often visited Liuhang and understood how dire the situation was. He repeatedly urged that the unwinnable battle be abandoned and that valuable troops be withdrawn to stronger positions. However, his pleas initially went unheeded. Chiang Kai-shek was primarily driven by the belief that war was about securing territory, and he insisted on maintaining control over Liuhang at all costs. Meanwhile the Chinese positions north of Wusong Creek had been breached in numerous places during late September and this caused Chiang Kai-Shek to finally relent. A fighting retreat began on the night of October 1st and would be completed by dawn of the 3rd. The new defensive line extended just over a mile west of the road from Luodian to Dachang, providing the Chinese defenders with excellent opportunities to harass the advancing Japanese Army with flanking fire for several miles as they moved south. At Wusong Creek, the Chinese line curved eastward and followed the southern bank for several miles. The creek provided a significant advantage to the Chinese defenders; despite its name, it would be more accurate to describe it as a river. It reached widths of up to 300 feet in some areas, and in several spots, the southern bank formed a steep six-foot wall. Anyone attempting to scale this barrier under intense mortar fire would be met at the top by rows of barbed wire and heavy machine gun fire. For a full mile south of the creek, the Chinese had spent weeks constructing a dense network of defenses, transforming farm buildings into formidable fortifications linked by deep trenches. They had learned valuable lessons from their German mentors, many veterans of the battles of Somme and Verdun, and they applied these lessons effectively. The Japanese took Liuhang on the 3rd and were met with counterattacks, but these were easily repelled. More confident, Matsui issued new orders on the 4th for the 3rd, 9th and 101 divisions to cross the Wusong Creek and advance a mile south. Beginning on the 5th, the 3 divisions crossed and carved out a narrow bridgehead under heavy resistance. The Chinese were frantic now, as after the Wusong Creek, the last remaining natural obstacle was the Suzhou Creek. Two miles west of the key road from Luodian to Dachang,  battalion commander Yan Yinggao of the 78th Division's 467th Regiment awaited the anticipated Japanese assault. The regiment had fortified three villages near a creek, reinforced with sandbags, barbed wire, and cleared fields of fire, along with deep trenches for troop movement. The 1st Battalion occupied the westernmost village, the 3rd Battalion held the other two, while the 2nd Battalion remained in reserve. The initial Japanese attack began with a heavy artillery bombardment. Despite facing significant casualties, their infantry was forced to withdraw from all three villages. They returned later in the afternoon with an even fiercer artillery assault. The 1st Battalion suffered devastating losses, including its commander, leading to the loss of the village to the Japanese. Yan Yinggao, observing from the rear, dispatched a reinforcement company, but it was quickly annihilated within ten minutes. Simultaneously the Chinese 3rd battalion at Tangbeizhai were nearly encircled. Yan received orders for his regiment to advance over to relieve them, but as they did a Japanese column of 60 soldiers approached from the opposite direction. A battle ensued over the smoking rubbled of the bombed out village. The few survivors of the 3rd battalion made a last stand, allowing the 2nd battle to fight their way in to take up their position. It was a small and temporary victory. Units arriving to the Shanghai theater were being tossed right into the front lines, such as the Tax Police Division. Despite its name they were a fully equipped military formation and quite well training consisting of 6 regiments, roughly 25,000 armed men. Their officers had previously served under the young marshal, Zhang Xueliang. They were rushed to Tangqiaozhan, lying on the road from Luodian to Dachang, bridged by the Wusong Creek. The bridge was crucial to the entire operation, as holding it would enhance the Chinese's chances of delaying the Japanese advance. The Tax Police, stationed at the northern end of the bridge, became surrounded on three sides. Intense fighting ensued, occasionally escalating to hand-to-hand combat. By the second day after their arrival, casualties had escalated significantly, forcing the Tax Police units to retreat south across the bridge, which ultimately fell to the advancing Japanese forces. A crisis atmosphere surrounded the meeting of the 3rd War Zone staff, chaired by Chiang Kai-shek, in Suzhou on October 11. Everyone agreed the previous efforts to halt the Japanese advance south across Wusong Creek had utterly failed. Each engagement resulted in Chinese troops being repelled without regaining significant territory. Chen Cheng proposed an attack in his sector, specifically targeting the area around Luodian. However, most felt that such an operation would not effectively influence the Japanese advance at Wusong Creek and ultimately dismissed the suggestion. Bai Chongxi, whom at this point held an informal advisory role, called for simultaneous attacks along both banks of Wusong Creek, thrusting into the right flank of the advancing Japanese. This would require an enormous amount of troops if there was to be any chance of success. Bai Chongxi was pushing to take 4 divisions from Guangxi, already in transit to Shanghai for the task. Chiang Kai-Shek liked the idea of a single decisive blow and agreed to Bai's idea. The German advisors were not so keen on this one. In fact the Germans were getting depressed over a concerning issue. It seemed the Chinese staff simply talked too much, taking far too long to produce very few decisions. There were a lot of reasons for this, a lot of these figures held to many positions. For example Gu Zhuong, Chiang Kai-Sheks deputy in Suzhou, was a chief of staff and also held two advisory roles. Then there were these informal generals, such as Bai Chongxi. A man such as Bai had no formal command here, yet he was providing views on operational issues. To the Germans who held clear military hierarchies as the bible, it looked obviously chaotic. There was notable hope though. The Germans acknowledged the Chinese were improving their artillery situation. For the first time since the battle for Shanghai began, 6 artillery battalions were moved into positions in the vicinity of Nanxiang, under the unified command of the headmaster of the Tangshan artillery school near Nanjing. From there they could coordinate barrages in the area south of the Wusong Creek.  Sun Liren got off at Nanxiang railway station on October 7th. At 36 he was leading one of China's best units, the 4th regiment of the Tax Police. Within confusion he was assigned to the 88th division, who were fighting the heaviest battles in the campaign. By noon of the next day, nearly all of Sun Liren's regiment were cannibalized, sent as reinforcements to the 88ths front lines. Afterwards all the was left was Sun and a group of 20 orderlies and clerks. At 2pm he got a call from th division, they needed more reinforcements at the front or else a small bridge north of Zhabei would be taken, collapsing their lines. Sun replied he had no troops left only to be told “its an order. If you disobey, you'll be courtmartialed”.  Without any choice, Sun hastily organized dozens of soldiers and marched them to the bridge. As they arrived, his men saw Chinese troops withdrawing away from the bridge. He asked one man what was going on “the officers have all left, we also don't want to die”. To this Sun said he was an officer and would stay and fight with them. The Japanese in pursuit were shocked to see the Chinese turn around attack them. In general the Japanese were surprised by the sudden resilience of the Chinese around the Wusong Creek. Many assaults were being beaten back. In the Zhabei district, much more urbanized, foreigners were watching in awe. A war correspondent wrote “Every street was a defense line and every house a pocket fort. Thousands of holes had been knocked through walls, linking the labyrinth of lanes into a vast system of defense in depth. Every intersection had been made into a miniature fortress of steel and concrete. Even the stubs of bomb-battered walls had been slotted at ground level for machine guns and rifles. No wonder the Japanese Army was months behind its boasts”.  East of the Huangpu River at Pudong, Sun Shengzhi commanded an artillery regiment whom began launching a barrage across the river upon the Gongda airfield, that had been allowing the Japanese air forces to support their infantry. Meanwhile Chinese soldiers rolled a battery of 8 bofor guns 300 yards from the riverbank and at dawn began firing upon aircraft taking off. They reported 4 downed Japanese aircraft and 7 damaged. By mid-October the 88th division took advantage of a lull in the fighting and prepared a ambitious attack aimed at cutting off the Sichuan North road, which the Japanese were using to as a supply line from the docks to units north of the city. The German advisors developed this attack using Stosstruppen tactics taken from WW1. For stosstruppen, the main means of weakening the enemy line was via infiltration, rather than a massive frontal attack. The attack was unleashed on the 18th after a bombardment by artillery and mortars as lightly armed Chinese stormed down the streets near the North railway station and took the Japanese there by complete surprise. They quickly occupied a segment of the Sichuan North Road cutting the Japanese supply chain for many days. Back on the 13th, Kuse Hisao led a company of the Japanese 9th division to perform an attack on Chenjiahang, located due north of Wusong Creek. It was a strategic and heavily fortified stronghold that obstructed the southward advance. As Kuse's men reached its vicinity they stopped to rest with orders to begin the assault at 1pm. The Japanese artillery kicked off the fight and was soon met with much larger Chinese artillery. This was an unpleasant surprise for the Japanese, whom to this point had always had superiority in artillery. Regardless the assault went ahead seeing wave upon wave of attackers fighting through cotton fields and bullets. Kuse's men were forced to crawl through the field. Kuse crawled his way to a small creek to discover with horror it was full of Japanese and Chinese corpses at various stages of decomposition.  The assault on Chenjiahang bogged down quickly. Kuse and his men spent a night amongst the rotting dead. The following day orders arrived for two neighbouring units to renew the assault as Kuse's fell back into the reserve. That day's attempt fared no better, simply piling more bodies upon the field and waterways. The next day Kuse watched Japanese flamethrower units enter the fray as they led an attack over a creek. Men jumped into waist deep water, waded across to fight up slopes through mazes of Chinese trenches. Then to all of their surprise they stormed and unoccupied Chenjiahang without firing a shot. Kuse and his men suddenly saw a grenade come flying at them. Kuse was injured and taken out by comrades to the rear. Chenjiahang and been bitterly fought over for weeks. Alongside Yanghang it was considered two key points necessary for the Japanese to be able to advance against Dachang further south.  Meanwhile Sichuanese troops were being pulled back for the fresh 4 Guangxi divisions to come in. They wore lighter brown uniforms with British styled tin hat helmets. One of their divisions, the 173rd was sent straight to Chenjiahang, arriving before dawn of the 16th. While the handover of positions was taking place, the Japanese launched an intense aerial and artillery bombardment causing significant casualties before the 173rd could even deploy. Later that day, one of their regiments engaged the Japanese and were slaughtered on the spot. Two-thirds of their men became casualties. The battle raged for four days as the 3 other Guangxi divisions moved to the front. There was no break on either side, as one Guanxi officer recalled, “I had heard the expression ‘storm o f steel' before, but never really understood what it meant. Now I do.” By mid October, Matsui's optimism about his southern push was waning. Heavy rain over the past week had slowed his men down considerably. Supplies were taking much longer to reach the front. Intelligence indicated the senior Chinese commanders had moved from Suzhou to Nanxiang, with some in Shanghai proper. To Matsui this meant they were nowhere near close to abandoning Shanghai. Matsui wrote in his diary “It's obvious that earlier views that the Chinese front was shaken had been premature. Now is definitely not the time to rashly push the offensive.” During this rainy time, both sides received some rest as a no-mans land formed. Winter uniforms were arriving for the Japanese 3rd and 11th divisions, causing some encouragement. The 3rd division had already taken 6000 casualties, but received 6500 reinforcements. Matsui estimated their combat strength to only by one-sixth of its original level.  On the 19th Matsui received reports that soldiers from Guangxi were arriving in Shanghai and deploying around Wusong Creek. To relieve some pressure the IJN sent a mock invasion force up the Yangtze to perform a 3 day diversion mission. 8 destroyers and 20 transport vessels anchored 10 miles upriver from Chuanshakou. They bombarded the area to make it seem like a amphibious invasion was imminent. Meanwhile both nations were fighting a propaganda war. On October 14th, China filed a complaint at the League of Nations accusing Japan of using poison gas in Shanghai. To this the Japanese accused them of using gas, specifically mentioning at the battle for Chenjiahang. Early in the campaign they accused the Chinese of using sneezing gas, a chemical adopted during WW1. To this accusation, Shanghai's mayor Yu Hongjun stated to reporters ‘The Japanese sneeze because they've got cold feet.” Back to our friend Ogishima with the 101st. His unit crossed the Wusong Creek early on. Afterwards the fighting became confused as the Chinese and Japanese started across 150 yards of no man's land. Every now and then the Japanese would leap out of trenches and charge into Chinese lines, but the attacks all ended the same. Rows of the dead cut down by machine guns. It was just like the western front of WW1. The incessant rain kept the trenches drenched like knee-deep bogs. Officers who had read about the western front routinely had their men line up for health checks. Anyone trying to fake a disease risked being branded a deserter, and deserters were shot. As Ogishima recalled “The soldiers in the frondine only have one thought on their minds. They want to escape to the rear. Everyone envies those who, with light injuries, are evacuated. The ones who unexpectedly get a ticket back in this way find it hard to conceal their joy. As for those left in the frontline, they have no idea if their death warrant has already been signed, and how much longer they have to live.” Nohara Teishin with the 9th division experienced pure hell fighting entrenched Chinese firing through holes in walls of abandoned farm buildings. Japanese officers urged their men to charge over open fields. Out of 200 men he fought with, 10 were able to fight after the battle. As Nohara recalled “All my friends died there. You can't begin to describe the wretchedness and misery of war.” Watanabe Wushichi, an officer in the 9th division was given orders to secure water supplies for the front line troops. A task that seemed simple enough given the sheer amount of creeks and ponds in the area. However they were all filled with corpses now. For many troops dying of thirst, it became so unbearable when anyone came across an unpolluted well, they would crown around it like zombies turning into a mud pool. Officers were forced to post guards at all discovered water sources. Watanabe was shocked by the Chinese fierceness in battle. At one point he was attacked pillboxes and upon inspecting the captured ones he was horrified to see how many Chinese bodies lay inside still clutching their rifles.  International outcry mounted over the invasion. On October 5th, president Franklin Roosevelt made a speech in Chicago calling for concrete steps to be taken against Japan. “It would seem to be unfortunately true that the epidemic of world lawlessness is spreading. When an epidemic of physical disease starts to spread the community approves and joins in a quarantine of the patients in order to protect the community against the spread of the disease.” Meanwhile Chiang Kai-Shek pushed the international community to sanction Japan and deprive her of oil, iron, steal, all materials needed for waging her illegal war. The League of Nations proved completely inept. On October 21st, Japanese foreign minister Hirota Koki approached the German ambassador in Tokyo, Herbert von Dirksen, asking if China was willing to negotiate. Germany declared she was willing to act as mediator, and to this Japan sent demands. Japan sought for Chinese concessions in north China and a demilitarized zone around Shanghai. Germany's ambassador to Nanjing, Oskar Trautmann conveyed this to Chiang Kai-Shek. Instead of replying Chiang asked the German what he thought. Trautmann said he considered the demands a basis for further talks and gave the example of what happened to his nation at the negotiating table during WW1. To this Chiang scoffed and made it clear he intended to restore the situation to its pre-hostile state before any talks.  Back at the front, Bai Chongxi planned his counterattack into the right flank of the Japanese. The attack was set for the 21st. The Guangxi troops at Chenjiahang were extricated and sent to assembly points. Matsui wrote in his diary on the 23rd “The enemy will launch a counterattack along the entire front tonight. It seems the planned attack is mainly targeted at the area south of Wusong Creek. It will give us an opportunity to catch the enemy outside of his prepared defenses, and kill him there. At 7pm the Chinese artillery began, an hour later troops were advancing east. The left wing of the Chinese attack, led by the 176th Guangxi Division north of Wusong Creek, initially advanced swiftly. However, it soon encountered significant obstacles, including numerous creeks and canals that disrupted progress. Concerned about supply trains lagging behind, the vanguard decided to relinquish much of the ground it had gained as dawn approached, hoping to reclaim it later that night. Meanwhile, the 174th Guangxi Division's assault south of Wusong Creek also struggled. It met unexpectedly strong resistance and had difficulty crossing the canals due to insufficient bridge-building materials. Fearing artillery and air attacks before dawn, this division retreated to its starting line, abandoning the hard-won territory from the previous night. Both divisions then dug in, preparing to withstand a counterattack during the daylight hours, when the Japanese forces could fully leverage their air superiority. As anticipated, the counterattack occurred after sunrise on October 22. In the 176th Division's sector, Japanese forces surrounded an entire battalion by noon, resulting in its complete destruction, including the battalion commander. The main success for the day came from a Guangxi unit that, despite facing an attack from Japanese infantry supported by five tanks, managed to hold its ground. Initially on the verge of collapse, they organized a rapid defense that repelled the Japanese assault. One tank was destroyed, two became stuck in a canal, and two others retreated, highlighting the challenges of tank warfare in the riverine terrain around Shanghai. An after-action report from the Guangxi troops read  “The Japanese enemy's army and air force employed every kind of weapon, from artillery to tanks and poison gas,” it said. “It hit the Chinese front like a hurricane, and resulted in the most horrific losses yet for the army group since it entered the battle.” As the sun rose on the 23rd, Japanese airplanes took to the skies. At 9:00 a.m., they targeted the already battered 174th Guangxi Division south of Wusong Creek. A Guangxi general who survived the assault recounted the devastation: “The troops were either blown to pieces or buried in their dugouts. The 174th disintegrated into a state of chaos.” Other units suffered similarly catastrophic losses. By the end of October 23, the Chinese operation had incurred heavy casualties, including two brigade commanders, six regimental commanders, and around 2,000 soldiers, with three out of every five troops in the first wave either killed or injured. Consequently, the assault had to be called off. Bai Chongxi's counterattack was a complete disaster. Many Guangxi veterans would hold grudges for years for what was seen as a senseless and hopeless battle.  Meanwhile in Zhabei Zhang Boting, the 27th year old chief of staff of the 88th division came to the headquarters of General Gu Zhutong, urging him to move to a safer location, only to be told “Chiang Kai-shek wants your division to stay in Zhabei and fight. Every company, every platoon, every squad is to defend key buildings in the city area, and villages in the suburbs. You must fight for every inch of land and make the enemy pay a high price. You should launch guerrilla warfare, to win time and gain sympathy among our friends abroad.” The command had more to do with diplomacy than any battlefield strategy. The Nine-Powers Conference was set for Brussels the following week and it was important China kept a spectacle going on in Shanghai for the foreigners. If the war advanced into lesser known hamlets in the countryside there would be no talk amongst the great powers. To this explanation Zhang Boting replied “Outside o f the streets of Zhabei, the suburbs consist o f flat land with little opportunity for cover. It's not suitable for guerrilla warfare. The idea o f defending small key points is also difficult. The 88th Division has so far had reinforcements and replacements six times, and the original core of officers and soldiers now make up only 20 to 30 percent. It's like a cup o f tea. If you keep adding water, it becomes thinner and thinner. Some of the new soldiers we receive have never been in a battle, or never even fired a shot. At the moment we rely on the backbone o f old soldiers to train them while fighting. As long as the command system is in place and we can use the old hands to provide leadership, we'll be able to maintain the division as a fighting force. But if we divide up the unit, the coherence will be lost. Letting every unit fight its own fight will just add to the trouble.” Zhang Boting then rushed east to the 88th divisional HQ inside the Sihang Warehouse laying just across from the International settlement. Here a final stand would be made and whose participants would be known as the 800 heroes, but that's a story for a later podcast.  Zhang Boting had returned to his HQ on October 26th, by then the Shanghai situation had deteriorated dramatically. The stalemate around Wusong Creek had suddenly collapsed. The IJA 9th division broke the Guangxi forces and now Matsui planned for a major drive south against Dachang. Before he even had time to meet with his colleagues the 3rd and 9th divisions reached Zoumatang Creek, which ran west to east two miles south of Wusong Creek. In preparation for the continued advance, the Japanese began dropping leaflets over the Chinese positions. Each one offered the soldiers who laid down their arms 5 Chinese yuan each, roughly half a US dollar each at the time. This did not meet much results, as the Chinese knew the Japanese rarely took prisoners. Instead the Guangxi troops continued to retreat after a brutal week of combat. Most of them were moving to prepared positions north and south of the Suzhou Creek, the last remaining natural obstacle to stop the Japanese conquest of Shanghai. In the early hours of the 25th the Japanese gradually realized the Chinese were withdrawing. The Japanese unleashed hundreds of aircraft and employed creeping barrages with their artillery. This may have been the first instance they employed such WW1 tactics during the campaign. The barrage was kept 700 yards in front of the advancing Japanese forces, giving the Chinese ample time to emerge from cover and re-man positions they had abandoned under artillery fire. Despite a general withdrawal, the Chinese also mounted a strong defense around Dachang.  Two strategic bridges across Zoumatang Creek, located west of Dachang, were defended by one division each. The 33rd Division, a recent arrival in Shanghai, was tasked with securing the westernmost bridge, Old Man Bridge, while the 18th Division, also newly arrived, was stationed near Little Stone Bridge, closer to Dachang. However, neither division was capable of stopping the advancing Japanese forces. On October 25, a Japanese column, led by more than 20 tanks, overwhelmed the 33rd Division's defenses and captured Old Man Bridge. As the Chinese division attempted a fighting retreat toward Dachang, it suffered severe casualties due to superior Japanese firepower. By mid-afternoon, only one in ten of its officers and soldiers remained fit for combat, and even the division commander had been wounded. The Japanese force then advanced to Little Stone Bridge, and after intense fighting with the 18th Division that lasted until sunset, they captured the bridge as well. Meanwhile, the 18th Division fell back into Dachang, where their commander, Zhu Yaohua, received a blunt order from Gu Zhutong to hold Dachang at all costs, warning that disobedience would lead to court-martial. Concerned that losing Little Stone Bridge might already jeopardize his position, Zhu Yaohua quickly organized a nighttime counterattack to reclaim it. However, the Japanese had anticipated this move and fortified their defenses near the bridge, leading to a disastrous failure for the Chinese. On October 26, the Japanese unleashed all available resources in an all-out assault on Dachang. The town had been nearly reduced to rubble, with only the ancient wall remaining as evidence of its former population. Up to 400 airplanes, including heavy bombers, targeted Chinese troops in and around Dachang, causing significant casualties among both soldiers and pack animals. A Western correspondent watching from afar described it as the “fiercest battle ever waged in Asia up to that time. A tempest of steel unleashed by Japanese planes, which flew leisurely overhead while observation balloons guided them to their targets. The curtain of fire never lifted for a moment from the Chinese trenches”. Following the aerial assault, more than 40 Japanese tanks emerged west of Dachang. The Chinese forces found themselves defenseless against this formidable armored column, as they had already relocated their artillery to safer positions behind the front lines. Left to fend for themselves, the Chinese infantry was quickly overwhelmed by the advancing wall of enemy tanks. The defending divisions, including Zhu Yaohua's 18th Division, stood no chance against such material superiority and were swiftly crushed. After a brief skirmish, the victorious Japanese forces marched in to claim Dachang, which had become a sea of flames. Matsui observed the scene with deep satisfaction as the Rising Sun banner flew over the smoldering ruins of the town. “After a month of bitter fighting, today we have finally seen the pay-off,”. In stark contrast, Zhu Yaohua faced immediate criticism from his superiors and peers, many of whom believed he could have done more to resist the Japanese onslaught. The weight of this humiliation became unbearable for him. Just two days after his defeat at Dachang, he shot himself in the chest ending his life. 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 late September, the Battle of Shanghai intensified as Japanese forces surged with reinforcements, pressing against Chinese defenses in Luodian. Amidst chaos, Japanese soldiers like Ogishima fought bravely in the trenches, witnessing unimaginable carnage. As October began, the battle's brutality escalated, with waves of attacks resulting in devastating casualties on both sides. However, the Chinese forces showcased remarkable resilience, adapting their strategies and fortifying defenses, marking a significant chapter in their struggle for sovereignty against overwhelming odds.  

The Caribbean tourism industry is poised for significant growth as China's outbound travel market expands rapidly. Helena Beard, Founder and Managing Director of Guanxi—a specialist travel PR and representation agency focused on the Chinese market—shared valuable insights during a panel discussion at Caribbean Week in New York 2025 on how Caribbean destinations can effectively access this lucrative travel segment.With China's population of 1.2 billion people generating approximately 155 million overseas travelers annually, the numbers alone paint a picture of immense potential. What makes this market even more attractive is the spending power behind these travelers—Chinese tourists collectively spend $277 billion US dollars per year on international travel, dwarfing many other markets and presenting an unprecedented opportunity for Caribbean destinations willing to understand and cater to this sophisticated demographic.Support the showTripCast360 --- It's all about travel, lifestyle and entertainment.Web: TripCast360.com.Twit: https://twitter.com/TripCast360FB: https://www.facebook.com/TripCast360Insta: https://www.instagram.com/tripcast360/

In Europa wird „Vitamin B“ oft misstrauisch beäugt – in China dagegen ist Beziehungskapital das Fundament für echten Erfolg. In dieser besonderen Beyond Borders Folge des Phoenix Mindset Podcasts tauche ich mit dir tief ein in das faszinierende System Guanxi. Direkt aus Singapur – meinem früheren Zuhause und Hotspot internationaler Geschäfte – erkläre ich dir, warum Guanxi das Spiel verändert und weshalb deutsche Vetternwirtschaft dagegen wie eine bleierne Ente wirkt.

You've heard the Japanese saying, “The nail that sticks up gets hammered down.” But did you know there are Chinese versions of this saying that almost no Americans have heard about?Why do we remember the Japanese version—and completely overlook the Chinese ones like:

Conheça a realidade chinesa dos negócios e faça networking com executivos e empresas chinesas na *Missão China* da StartSe: https://eventosstartse.typeform.com/to/MGewCeOR?utm_source=imersao_china&utm_medium=youtube&utm_campaign=hora_da_china&utm_term=EP_03&typeform-source=www.youtube.com NESTE EPISÓDIO: Prepare-se para mergulhar em uma conversa fascinante sobre os bastidores da relação Brasil-China! Nosso convidado é o Dr. Samuel Liao, advogado formado na China com mais de 20 anos de experiência em negociações internacionais e jurídicas. Ele compartilha histórias reais sobre como a cultura chinesa de confiança (Guanxi) é determinante para fechar negócios, além de revelar os desafios que empresas chinesas enfrentam ao investir no Brasil – e vice-versa. Você vai descobrir também a estratégia por trás dos investimentos bilionários em infraestrutura e tecnologia, o impacto da governança jurídica nos negócios globais e dicas valiosas para empreendedores que querem explorar as oportunidades com a segunda maior economia do mundo. Se você quer entender o que realmente move as grandes parcerias internacionais e o que podemos aprender com o modelo chinês de inovação e crescimento, este episódio é imperdível! Assista agora e compartilhe sua opinião nos comentários!

In this weeks episode Sarah dives into 2 essential concepts for working successfully in the Chinese market: Relationship building and mutual respect. 2025 Is the year of the snake and acknowledging this can make a positive impression. Grab a coffee and let's take a look at how we can navigate these concepts with ease

"But what I didn't realize is that the main reason they wanted us in China was so that they could study our business model and figure out how to copy it over time. And that was something I wasn't expecting, but I should have. If I were less naive, And if I were better prepared, I would have realized that was the intention. So the original title, the working title I had for my book, which I had to change because the publisher didn't like it, my original title was 'One Bed, Two Dreams' (同床异梦).   Because that's a phrase that most Chinese are familiar with." - Ken Wilcox Fresh out of the studio, Ken Wilcox, former CEO of Silicon Valley Bank and author of "The China Business Conundrum", shares his experiences establishing Silicon Valley Bank's joint venture in China, uncovering the challenges of navigating cultural differences, guanxi, and examine China's playbook in bringing successful foreign ventures onshore. He reflects on lessons learned, from differing views on contracts and negotiation tactics to the complexities of building trust in a new business landscape and offers invaluable advice for Western companies eyeing the Chinese market. Last but not least, he concludes by sharing his hopes for the book's impact, emphasizing the importance of understanding and collaboration between the East and West. Audio Episode Highlights: [00:00] Quote of the Day by Ken Wilcox [01:66] Ken Wilcox's career journey and transition to China. [06:35] Life and leadership lessons. [09:47] The One Thing that Ken knows about Doing Business in China that very few do. [12:40] Importance of Silicon Valley Bank in China. [17:12] Cultural and regulatory challenges in China. [26:10] Understanding guanxi in Chinese business. [37:51] Adapting to China and reverse culture shock. [40:14] The Chinese negotiating style centres on leverage and power. [48:37] What happened to the joint venture post-SVB crisis? [53:10] Contrasts in negotiation styles between China and the U.S. [54:51] What does success mean for The China Business Conundrum? [56:18] Recent book recommendations. [57:52] Final reflections on time spent in China. Profile: Ken Wilcox, Author of "The China Business Conundrum: Ensure That "Win-Win" Doesn't Mean Western Companies Lose Twice" Main Site: https://kenwilcoxauthor.com/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kenwilcoxsvb/ Substack: https://kenwilcoxauthor.substack.com/ Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/China-Business-Conundrum-Win-Win-Companies/dp/1394294166/ Podcast Information: Bernard Leong hosts and produces the show. Proper credits for the intro and end music: "Energetic Sports Drive" and the episode is mixed & edited in both video and audio format by G. Thomas Craig Analyse Asia Main Site: https://analyse.asia Analyse Asia Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1kkRwzRZa4JCICr2vm0vGl Analyse Asia Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/analyse-asia-with-bernard-leong/id914868245 Analyse Asia YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@AnalyseAsia Analyse Asia LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/analyse-asia/ Analyse Asia X (formerly known as Twitter): https://twitter.com/analyseasia Analyse Asia Threads: https://www.threads.net/@analyseasia Sign Up for Our This Week in Asia Newsletter: https://www.analyse.asia/#/portal/signup Subscribe Newsletter on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/build-relation/newsletter-follow?entityUrn=7149559878934540288

Ken Wilcox, former CEO of Silicon Valley Bank, discusses his book "The China Business Conundrum" and the challenges of doing business in China. He explains the concept of "one bed, two dreams," highlighting the disparity in goals between western and Chinese joint venture partners. Wilcox details his bank's entry into China, emphasizing the strategic invitations and control exerted by the Chinese Communist Party. He recounts the extensive regulations and control mechanisms, including a three-year restriction on using Chinese currency. Despite the challenges, Wilcox values the experience, noting the complex interdependence between the U.S. and China.If you have any questions, comments, or suggestions for Gene, please email him at contact@economicsexplored.com  or send a voice message via https://www.speakpipe.com/economicsexplored. About this episode's guest: Ken WilcoxKen Wilcox was the CEO of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) from 2001 to 2011, then the CEO of SVB's joint venture with Shanghai Pudong Development Bank (SPDB-SVB) in Shanghai until 2015, followed by four years as its Vice Chairman. He currently serves on the boards of the AsiaSociety of Northern California, the Asian Art Museum, and UC San Diego's 21st Century China Center, as well as Columbia Lake Partners, a European venture-debt fund. He is on the Board of Advisors of the Fudan University School of Management in Shanghai and an Adjunct Professor at U.C. Berkeley.Ken holds a PhD in German from Ohio State University and an MBA from Harvard Business School. He has given numerous speeches in both English and Chinese, published a variety of articles in the banking press, and recently wrote the management book Leading Through Culture: How Real Leaders Create Cultures That Motivate People to Achieve Great Things (Waterside Productions, 2020) and its accompanying workbook, How About You? (Waterside Productions, 2023). His account of establishing an innovation bank in China, The China Business Conundrum: Ensure that Win-Win Doesn't Mean Western Companies Lose Twice, is forthcoming from Wiley.To connect with Ken, please visit: www.linkedin.com/in/kenwilcoxsvb/Timestamps for EP259Introduction and Overview of the Podcast (0:00)Ken Wilcox's Journey into China (4:40)Challenges and Strategic Invitations in China (8:10)Guanxi and Corruption in Business Relationships (14:13)State Control and Joint Venture Challenges (20:42)Impact of SVB's Collapse and Final Reflections (40:02)TakeawaysJoint ventures in China often suffer from differing goals between Western companies and their Chinese partners, a phenomenon Ken Wilcox refers to as "One Bed, Two Dreams."The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) holds significant control over both private and state-owned companies, making it difficult for foreign businesses to operate independently.Guanxi, a system of mutual obligation and trust, plays a critical role in business relationships in China, but it often involves navigating corruption and complex social expectations.Foreign companies entering China are often targeted for their intellectual property, and the CCP uses strategic partnerships to gain technological insights.Ken Wilcox's experience with Silicon Valley Bank in China illustrates the frustrations foreign firms face due to slow regulatory processes and overwhelming state control.Links relevant to the conversationKen's book “The China Business Conundrum”:https://www.amazon.com.au/China-Business-Conundrum-Win-Win-Companies/dp/1394294166Previous Economics Explored episodes on China:China's Economic Future Under Xi & the Australia-China Relationship w/ Emmanuel Daniel – EP253 https://economicsexplored.com/2024/09/17/chinas-economic-future-under-xi-the-australia-china-relationship-w-emmanuel-daniel-ep253/Enterprise China: what western businesses need to know w/ Prof. Allen Morrison  – EP171https://economicsexplored.com/2022/12/26/enterprise-china-what-western-businesses-need-to-know-w-prof-allen-morrison-ep171/Why we're in the Decisive Decade with China & what the West should do w/ Dr Jonathan D. T. Ward – EP182https://economicsexplored.com/2023/04/09/why-were-in-the-decisive-decade-with-china-what-the-west-should-do-w-dr-jonathan-d-t-ward-ep182/China, Taiwan & the Indo-Pacific w/ Dr Greta Nabbs-Keller – EP146https://economicsexplored.com/2022/07/04/china-taiwan-the-indo-pacific-w-dr-greta-nabbs-keller-ep146/Lumo Coffee promotion10% of Lumo Coffee's Seriously Healthy Organic Coffee.Website: https://www.lumocoffee.com/10EXPLOREDPromo code: 10EXPLORED 

Has the nature of Guanxi changed in the post-COVID era of doing business in China?Thirteen years ago, my personal driver in Shanghai invited my wife and me to a lavish, relatively speaking, dinner party to celebrate my birthday with his relatives. This dinner celebration is unusual for any Western leader assigned a driver in China because these drivers usually lack the Guanxi or cultural incentive to suggest such a gesture to their clients. In the Chinese hierarchical system, the higher-level person usually organizes and pays for these occasions.Why did my driver, XiaoHe (小何), insist on this overture, and what were the reciprocal personal benefits, referred to 利益 (Lìyì), in Chinese?#ChinaBusiness #ChineseCulture #Covid19 #Psychology #Communications #China #CCP #USChina #Tradewar #Geopoliticshttp://provocativechina.com/

Last time we spoke about the Anti-Fengtian War. The Anti-Fengtian War included two major theaters, the Zhejiang-Fengtian War and the Guominjun-Fengtian War. Within China's north, Feng Yuxiang brokered many sneaky deals with other warlords, trying to bring down Zhang Zuolin. One of these warlords was the disgruntled Guo Songling who led a brave or some would say idiotic rebellion, striking at the heart of the Fengtian empire. Feng Yuxiang failed to really exploit Guo Songling's actions, and Wu Peifu ended up joining Zhang Zuolin, simply out of spite for Feng Yuxiang. The war between the Guominjun and Fengtian soon fell apart for Feng Yuxiang as his forces were gradually dislodged from the Beijing area into northwest China. In an ironic case of deja vu, Zhang Zuolin and Wu Peifu found themselves again working together in Beijing. Little did they know, while they had been fighting in the north, it was the south where real danger lay.   #110 The Northern Expedition Part 1: Invading Hunan 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. So we have now come to a point where the warlord era takes a sharp turn. While we have been talking about countless wars between numerous factions, this is basically the end game as they say. I have no idea how many episodes it will take, so I apologize in advance, but we are going to be covering the Northern Expedition. I've probably mentioned it a hundred times by this point, the northern expedition. Dr Sun Yat-Sens brainchild, put simply build an army and march north to reunify China. Sounds kind of insane given the disparity in strength between whose in the north and south eh?  Facing what can only be described as staggering odds, the Kuomintang over in their separate government based out of Guangzhou suddenly began the most incredible military expedition of the warlord era. On the verge of disintegration with inadequate materials, most of which were coming from the Soviets, the military campaign was a gamble to say the least. Chiang Kai-Shek was ultimately counting on the weakness of his enemies rather than his own NRA forces. His Soviet advisors all told him not to do it, that it would be a terrible blunder. Now if you open up text books, read contemporary buzzfeed like artiles or watch youtube shorts, they would have you believe the northern expedition was this easy sweep northward led by a vanguard of Communist propagandist forces. In reality it was a series of hard fought battles where either side could have knocked out the other completely.  Now for most of its life, this Guangzhou based cabal that the KMT were in control of, had always been on the defensive. For the most part their secure powerbase was Guangdong and from there they would gradually conquer region after region, one by one. Something that can truly be said about the KMT, unlike the other factions, take the Fengtian or Zhili for example was its strong sense of having an ideology and its charismatic strong man at the head of its army. There was of course personal armies within the NRA, they were more or less a confederation, but the ideology of the KMT glued them all together. The other factions, perhaps excluding the Guominjun, simply did not have this. There was a shared concern that the political make up of China needed to be democratic and not devolve into the traditional or imperial autocracies that had plagued China for so long.  The first region Chiang Kai-Shek would target would be the rich middle Yangtze provinces of Hubei and Hunan, both of which had recently come back under the dominion of the Jade Marshal Wu Peifu. The route the NRA would take would be through Hunan and Hubei, down the Yangtze and up into the North China plain before finally marching upon Beijing. Ironically it was an identical path, one Hong Xiuquan once took when he rallied the Taiping against the Qing Dynasty. To first invade Hunan, Chiang Kai-Shek faced a rather daunting task. He did not have the military power to simply defeat the warlords of the province. He needed to exploit the political scene within it. Prior to the northern expedition, Hunan was dominated by northern warlords who were alien to the southern province. This of course antagonized the local populations creating an unstable political environment. This was something the KMT could manipulate. The KMT's nationalistic ideology was something that could potentially win over allies or weaken petty warlords rule. The KMT could exploit local interests and provincialism, self rule movements and such. When the KMT looked at Hunan they could see an ongoing power struggle. The Hunanese gentry class was being kept alive purely upon a desire for provincial autonomy. The governor Chao Hengti, a Hunanese native was subordinate to Wu Peifu, a Shandong native. By 1926 a conflict had emerged between 4 Hunanese divisional commanders. Chao Hengti favored Yue Kaixin the strongest of them controlling the Hunanese 3rd division. Chao Hengti sought to weaken the rest and used Yue to weaken the second largest 4th division led by Tang Shengchih.Tang Shengchih dominated southwestern Hunan and went on the defensive when he figured out the Governor and Yue were after him. The KMT noticed this over in Guangdong. Now political intervention in Hunan required personal connections. Within the KMT party membership were Hunanese civilians and military officials. This was one of the great strengths of the KMT as a clique, how their political membership transcended provincial or regional bases. Similar to the CCP, who had those like Mao Zedong working with the rural masses in Hunan, the KMT had ties to those at some of the top echelons of the province's power structure. One leading KMT figure who pushed for the northern expedition was Tan Yenkai who also had been the governor of Hunan after the 1911 revolution. He had always maintained an interest in Hunan and while in Guangdong had rallied a 15,000 men strong force of Hunanese troops, now renamed the 2nd army of the NRA. Prior to 1926 Tan Yenkai had already led one military campaign to retake Hunan for Dr Sun Yat-Sen. Back in 1924, when Sun Yat-Sen was trying to form a coalition with northern powers, Tan Yenkai launched a rather ill-conceived and short lived campaign, trying to bolster Sun's position in Beijing. Another commander in Jiangxi had pushed Tan Yenkai's force back into Guangdong and the failure provided quite the lesson, that one should also exploit the political realm alongside the military.  By spring of 1926 Chiang Kai-Shek and his top subordinates began planning an invasion of Hunan. Aside for the ex-governor Tan Yenkai, the KMT also had ties to Tang Shengchih. Liu Wentao and Chen Mingshu had been classmates of Tang Shengchih back at the Baoting Military academy in 1912. In 1925 they began reconnecting with the man, arranging a propaganda tour of the province. Liu Wentao, then a professor of political science, began touring China, lecturing all on the Three People's Principles of the KMT. Tang Shenchich went to one of these speeches and many of his men as well. There was also Pai Chungxi, another schoolmate of Tang Shenchih, the leader of the 7th Jiangxi Army of the NRA. The KMT also had loose connections with the hunan divisional commander Ho Yaotsu who was friends with Cheng Chien, a hunanese native and the commander of the 6th NRA army, primarily consisting of Hunanese troops. Now Chiang Kai-Shek began courting Governor Chao Hengti in June of 1926. He approached the man as a fellow member of the older Kuomintang party, pleading in a telegram that they should reunite into a new national movement. Obviously Chiang Kai-shek was making a powerplay to try and win over Hunan without shedding blood, he did not stop sending messages to the man even a week before the shells would fly. In southern Hunan at this time, Tang Shengchih was dominating the Hsiang valley with his 9000 man strong division. Tang Shengchih was a pretty intelligent player. He had numerous connections from his Baoting academy days and he managed to expand his domain to include 27 of Hunans 75 tax-collection districts. However by early 1926 Governor Chao had ordered all 4 Hunan divisional commanders to remit the local taxes they gathered to the provincial capital of Changsha. Obviously this was to centralize the power, and such revenue losses would strangle Tang Shengchih's power. So Tang Shengchih began talks with the KMT as early as february of 1926. It was a dangerous play, many had seen the numerous cases where inviting allies from another province only brought unwelcome guests. Perhaps Tang Shengchih believed by gaining some KMT support, he might be able to overpower Chao Hengti. But he was no idiot, he asked for KMT assurance he would fill the role of governorship and not someone like Tan Yenkai who indeed was lurking in the shadows. Tang Shengchih was given said assurance and signed an alliance treaty on February 24th. When Tang Shengchih unleashed his forces against Governor Chao Hengtai the same month, it was perfect timing. Wu Peifu was preoccupied in north China fighting Feng Yuxiang, thus the governor had no reinforcements. Threatened, Chao Hengti immediately fled Changsha, heading north. While this was occurring, Tang Shengchih labeled the governor nothing but a northern puppet of Wu Peifu. From February to March of 1926 Chiang Kai-Shek was still struggling for authority over the KMT to launch the Northern Expedition. Thus Tang Shengchih's rebellion had preceded it, and was done without KMT resources. Still feeling confident Tang Shengchih began marching into northern Hunan. Back over in Guangzhou, the KMT commissioner of foreign affairs notified everyone that Tang was doing this all on his own, none of their resources had reached him yet. When Tang Shengchih secured Changsha in mid march, a lot of the hunanese gentry began supporting his cause to be governor. Tang Shengchih's forces then overran Yochou along Hunan's northern border. Tang Shengchih had not yet accepted the governorship position, in march he was still looking to see how the KMT alliance would pan out. Yet in March tensions emerged within the KMT over the northern expedition The March 20th coup certainly expedited aid to Tang Shengchih. 5 Days after, Tang Shengchih accepted governorship and with his new position he proceeded to purge his political enemies from the provinces administration while installing his friends. By late March 1926, Wu Peifu finally responded to the threat to his hegemony over Hunan. He began threatening to return south with his Honanese troops. Now Wu Peifu's armies were still facing Feng Yuxiang at this time, but the KMT aid also had not come yet so Tang Shengchih paused. Tang Shengchih began playing down his ties to the KMT in responding to Wu Peifu, posing as a mere neutral. In early april of 1926, Feng Yuxiang had been cast out of the North China plain and now Wu Peifu had a free hand to play against the rebellion in Hunan. Tang Shengchih now under real threat, began recalling his regiments from northern Hunan and evacuated his forces from Changsha as he built a defense in his home valley.  To deal with the menace, Wu Peifu looked to find a Hunanese local to manage the province for him. Wu Peifu turned to the Hunanese 3rd division commander, Yue Kaixin, to make him military governor and commander of the 1st division, with Ho Yaotsu to be civil governor. However the Hunanese gentry cried out immediately at this, stating they would not allow him to overturn their authority. Thwarted, Wu Peifu reverted to violence to pacify the troublesome province. In May, Tang Shengchih suffered a major defeat and was forced to fall back on the defense as Wu Peifu's Hunanese allies were battering him. Until NRA forces advanced into the province, there was little hope for Tang Shengchih and his crumbling defenses within the Xiang valley. Thousands of men from the NRA's 4th and 7th armies began to arrive in late May, but even so they were outnumbered in southern Hunan. It was not until June 2nd, when Tang Shengchih finally caved and accepted the offer from Chiang Kai-Shek to be the commander of the 8th NRA army. Thus Tang Shengchih went from leading a division to an army and his regimental commanders became division commanders. It was also of course a substantial pay raise. This was the type of model the NRA would adopt throughout the Northern Expedition. If you can't beat them, buy them. Just a few days later, the NRA forces within Hunan accepted Tang Shengchih as their front line commander. Tang Shengchih then proclaimed he would head a provisional Hunan government as its governor in the name of the KMT government.  The KMT had done a lot to win over the Hunanese people. The Hunanese people wanted autonomy, so the KMT flouted notions of provincial autonomy with a federal system. It was a marriage of convenience. Another major carrot was promising to end the tyranny of the northern warlords and the exploitation of the foreign imperialists. Some began to refer to the Northern Expedition as the “anti-north campaign” and clearly the first target would be the warlord controlling Hunan, Hubei and Honan, the Jade Marshal. In July the 4th army divisions led by Chang Fangkuei and Chen Mingshu arrived at the front, thus the defense changed to offense. At this point Wu Peifu's armies were still too far in North China and his Hunan allies were now becoming overwhelmed by the NRA swarming out of Guangdong. Under these dire circumstance, Wu Peifu's appointed governor, Chao Hengti made a stand along the north banks of the Xiang, the Lien and Lu rivers. From late June to early July the NRA prepared to ford the Lien river sitting west of the Xiang and the Lu river to its east. Down the Xiang was Changsha. Facing the Lu river were two 4th army divisions and Yue Tings independent regiment and another Hunanese regiment. Over at the Lien river were Jiangxi troops of the 7th army alongside the remainder of Tang Shengchihs 8th army. As the first major offensive kicked out, Tang Shengchih was at the front raising morale for the Hunanese, which was very important, as do remember, all these forces coming out of Guangdong were alien Cantonese to them. A breakthrough emerged along the two-river lines with the 7th and 8th NRA armies over on the left wing on the 5th of July. By the 10th the 4th NRA Army engaged the enemy towards Changsha. Over in the east where Hunan bordered Jiangxi, a subordinate of Sun Chuanfang who controlled the lower Yangtze region was completely undisturbed by the NRA forces. Chiang Kai-Shek and his subordinates had given specific orders not to molest Sun Chuanfang, trying to avoid bringing him into the fight to join Wu Peifu. The NRA also profited off a recent flood of the Yangtze that had backed water up the streams of northern Hunan, hindering enemy communications. Wu Peifu was awaited reinforcements over at his HQ in Wuhan while his generals in Hunan faced the real threat of being encircled and annihilated. To Wu Peifu's western flank, two Guizhou warlords were watching the tide of battle. Wu Peifu was very aware of this and it threatened his western defensives. The season had also been a poor harvest, reducing food stuff for Hunan, a province that was already quite dependent on exports north in places like Wuhan. Even with his riverine navy, Wu Peifu could not hope to move enough foodstuff to his southern front. Another issue he faced was the passive resistance of Hunan's peasantry class who began hiding their produce from suppliers. The loss of the Lien-Lu River line left Changsha completely defenseless, so on July 11th the defenders simply withdraw further north of the city.  With the Guangdong and Juangxi forces entering Hunan, the NRA had gained enough manpower to begin advancing north. From July 11th after taking Changsha until mid August the front moved north only 50 miles. Delays occurred because reinforcements and war materials for the NRA could only be moved halfway up from Guangzhou by rail. Afterwards they had to travel over back-breaking terrain by foot. Soldiers and their hired coolies had to hand carry supplies and arms and this in turn limited the largest weaponry they could move, such as small field cannons which took entire teams of carriers. For those of you who don't know, I specialize in the Pacific War and I can certainly say, the Japanese forces in isolated islands, take Guadalcanal for example, saw this exact type of situation. Japanese artillery teams would have to disassemble artillery pieces and carry them by hand through rough jungles, often under starvation conditions. Not fun. The NRA during these circumstance, much like the Japanese in the 1940's in jungle terrain islands would suffer from terrible ailments, not malaria like the Japanese, but cholera. Cholera was taking a toll on the overheated and exhausted soldiers and civilian coolies. One Chen Kungpo wrote in his memoirs “that hundreds died daily in one mountain town on the route going north”. By August, both sides were gathering in strength along a new front, established near the Milo River. A military advisor wrote “Sometimes there are no provisions, my colleagues tear off some sort of grass, chew it and are full.” However the northern forces could not launch counterattacks without the full support of the Jade Marshall's main army who were still stuck in North China aiding Zhang Zuolin against the treacherous Feng Yuxiang. To remedy the two front situation, Wu Piefu tried but failed to secure loans and aid from his former protege, Sun Chuanfang, who honestly was more foe than friend now. Sun Chuanfang had basically taken the mantle as the strong Zhili leader and certainly did not want to share any of his newfound limelight. Alongside this the British turned a cold shoulder to Wu Peifu and the Japanese never liked him to begin with.  Despite some local floods and the cholera outbreak, Chiang Kai-Shek was able to arrive to Hengyang with over 100,000 NRA troops. These numbers had been recently bolstered by Guizhou warlords such as Peng Hanchang and Wang Tienpei who had watched eagerly the battles of the Lien-Lu line before tossing their lot in with the NRA. The Guizhou forces had marched into western Hunan clearing out pockets of resistance as they did. During the northern expedition, smaller warlords tended to simply defect or join the NRA when the NRA was winning. The NRA now prepared an offensive to break the Milo river line, also emboldened by the peasantry class who were very willing to work. The local floods in northern Hunan, combined with the droughts in southern Hunan had destroyed the peasants' fields, thus they needed to make money. The NRA exploited this to recruit soldiers and coolies en masse and this greatly improved their mobility.  By contrast, Wu Peifu's forces were low on ammunition, rations were also beginning to dwindle and the majority of the soldiers had not been paid in quite some time. In the NRA controlled areas, the Hunanese peasants were selling what produce they could spare, but the NRA were also being supplemented by rice carried from Guangdong. The NRA also made sure to pay coolies properly instead of Shanghai'ing them and did not plunder peasants' foodstuffs. This of course led to wide scale cooperation from the local population, something quite rare for the warlord era. A final conference was held at Changsha on August 12th between Chiang Kai-Shek, the top NRA commanders and Soviet advisors. By the 15th orders were dispatched for a general offensive against the Moli line with the objective of reaching Hubei. The NRA right wing also prepared to defend the army in cause Sun Chuanfang finally extended help to Wu Peifu from Guanxi. Chiang Kai-Shek was filled with excitement, for if successful, the NRA offensive would capture Wuhan and her incredible Hanyang Arsenal. Chiang Kai-Shek dispatched word to his generals before the battle. “The importance of this fight is not only in that it will decide the fate of the warlords. But, whether or not the Chinese nation and race can restore their freedom and independence hangs in the balance. In other words, it is a struggle between the nation and the warlords, between the revolution and the anti-revolutionaries, between the Three People's Principles and imperialism. All are to be decided now in this time of battle … so as to restore independence and freedom to our Chinese race”. The general plan of attack was to breach the Milo river line and quickly capture Wuhan. Speed and timing were critical factors. It was all basically a huge gamle. The NRA needed to secure Wuhan before Wu Peifu or Sun Chuanfang entered the war, thus preventing the NRA incursion into the Yangtze Valley. At the moment the NRA and their immeidate adversary in northern Hunan were around equal number, but if Sun Chuanfang entered the mix he had nearly double what Chiang Kai-Shek had. The 4th and 6th NRA armies made their crossing over the Milo on August 17th, successfully outflanking the enemy line and easing the way for the left wing of the 7th and 8th NRA armies to advance. By the 19th, Wu Peifu's troops were forced out of their trenches and only provided sporadic resistance as they withdrew into southern Hubei. During the two day retreat the northern forces had divided in two with the western flank taking refuse in Wu Peifu's naval stronghold of Yuehzhou. Its port was heavily fortified, however the recent floods had caused water from Dongting lake and the Yangtze to meet, ruining many of the fortifications. The NRA cut across Yuehzhou's railway link to Wuhan and surrounded it. Wu Peifu had frantically orders troops to hold the naval base, until he could detach himself from the Hobei operations to take personal command of the shit storm in Hunan. However during a meeting with Zhang Zuolin at Baoding, Wu Peifu received word his subordinates had simply taken all the naval vessels, riverine vessels and even sampans to head downstream for Wuhan. Yuehzhou fell with ease by the 22nd and Hunan was practically cleared of Wu Peifu's regular forces. Wu Peifu's navy contuined to fight the enemy, but all they could really do is harass NRA units along th baks of Dongting lake or the Yangtze. In response the NRA simply tosses fire rafts at them, a classic and age old tactic.  As the NRA chased the enemy, the local railway workers on lines heading into Hubei cooperated. The workers began cutting railway lines and telegraph lines to obstruct the enemy retreating from Yuehzhou. Entire trainloads of troops and war materials fell directly into the hands of the NRA. The end of August saw Chiang Kai-Shek's gamble pay off. Although Sun Chuanfang could pounce at any moment from Juangxi, the NRA had succesfully given a bloody nose to one warlord. The victory of the NRA over Hunan did not go unnoticed by the surrounding provinces warlords. Guizhou generals began joining the KMT as the war raged and the Milo river line fight influenced some generals under Sun Chuanfang to reconsider their loyalites. It was quite remarkable that Sun Chuanfangs decision to stay out of the immediate fight lost him the easiest chance of ending the NRA altogether. If Sun Chuanfang had intervened in the Hunan war, almost 100% he would have defeated Chiang Kai-Shek and easily march upon Guangzhou to end the first United Front. Losing Guangdong the KMT would have withered away, perhaps the CCP, would cower into the shadows awaited the right moment to pounce. Chiang Kai-Shek would not have withstood such a defeat, his leadership role would have been shattered. But such was not the case, Chiang Kai-Shek took Hunan and proved himself a new formidable player on the board. The Hunan campaign cost the NRA, but now they had the perfect base of operations and springboard for further offensives. By the end of August the NRA's intelligence reported Wu Peifu was advancing south to reinforce Wuhan, thus Chiang Kai-Shek tossed the dice of fate again. Advancing north against the three-city stronghold, was regiments of Chen Mingshu and Chang Fakuei's 4th Army. The withdrawal from the Milo river line had allowed Wu Peifu's Hubei forces to form a new line. The Guangzhou-Hankou railway followed a narrow land route between the Yangtze and highland ranges, crossing over multiple flooded bridgeheads. To further hinder the NRA's advance, the Hunanese had breached nearby dikes of the Yangtze. Then they heavily fortified the Tingszu Brigde with barbed wire and machine gun nests over its northern riverbank. The NRA vanguard attacked the stronghold on August 26th, coming to a abrupt halt. The NRA's superior mobility, aided by local boatsmen allowing the NRA right wing to head upstream and get around the enemy's flank. Likewise the NRA 4th army threatened the railway to Wuhan, making Wu Peifu's forces more vulnerable. The forces defending Wuhan were mainly the same troops who had fled Hunan, exhausted and demoralized. When the first attacks came upon the bridgehead, joined by flank attacks, the defensive line collapsed. During the night of the 26th the NRA stormed several strongpoints and outposts. Here again Wu Peifu's forces jumped onto any vessel they could get away with, or fled aboard the last trains heading north. The Tingszu bridge was captured, but at a bloody cost that would limit the NRA's ability to pursue the fleeing enemy. Once again the floods slowed the advance, alongside Wu Peifu's riverine vessels that continued to fire upon any NRA troops that ventured too close to waterways. Yet Wu Peifu's troops were running low on food while the NRA were accumulating more of it. As the NRA soldiers marched across the Tingszu bridge, locals flocked over to sell them foodstuff as by this time word had spread far about how the NRA paid for what they needed. On August 28th the NRA forces captured Xienning, but further north came across the Hesheng bridge. The bridge was heavily fortified and defended by forces under the personal command of Wu Peifu. Back on August the 25th and Hankou, Wu Peifu received word that Tingszu bridge had fallen, thus he quickened his advance to the front. He was shocked by the fall of the bridge and blamed his subordinates, labeling them cowards. When he arrived at Hesheng, Wu Peifu gathered his officers as he executed the commanders who lost the Tingszu bridge. He had with him mercenaries of the Big Swords Corps functioning as the executioners. On August 29th, Wu Peifu then went on the offensive and attacked the NRA vanguard, elements of Li Tsungjen's 7th Army just a bit due south of the Hesheng Bridge. His attack devastated the vanguard until the main bulk of the 7th and 4th armies arrived. Just before dawn on the 30th, Wu Peifu attacked the NRA's line of defense south of the bridge, probing for a weak point. He hit the 4th and 7th armies sectors, but was gradually met by artillery and rifle fire that took a heavy toll. Wu Peifu then had the Big Swords executioners clip more officers of their heads to boost morale. However as Wu Peifu continued to press his offensive his men eventually routed under pressure. His troops fled right over the Hesheng bridge allowing the 7th army to flank them further upstream where they took another smaller bridge and threatened his lifeline, the railway line to Wuhan.  By noon on the 30th, Wu Peifu's Hunanese and Hubei forces were in a general retreat heading north. Wu Peifu had just lost southern Hubei in what was an absolute clumsy miscalculation. During the retreat the NRA flank attack against his railway line saw them capture 3 trains full loaded with troops and arms. Over the course of the past weeks he had lost two bridgeheads seeing 1000 deaths, 2000 wounded and 5000 captured alongside all their weaponry. After the entire debacle, Wu Peifu began frantically pleading with Sun Chuanfang to come down the Yangtze to help him. But Sun Chuanfang made ambiguous responses and dragged his feet. As he did so the NRA fortified their defenses facing Juangxi. In full retreat Wu Peifu began breaching dikes behind his forces to slow down the NRA as they approached Wuchang, the capital of Hubei. He left a force of 10,000 men to defend the city behind its sturdy walls as he ferried the rest of his men to Hankou. Once his forces landed on the other side of the Yangtze he had half of them take up positions to defend the Hanyang Arsenal, while the others defended Hankou, which served as his new HQ. By September his forces from Honan began to arrive.  On August 31st, Chen Mingshu's 4th army was in hot pursuit of the enemy. His vanguard took a vantage point near Wuchang as reconnaissance investigated the city. On September 2nd, the NRA unleashed frontal assaults to probe its defenses, but they lacked any heavy artillery to actually back up a real attack. As a result the NRA suffered heavy casualties before pulling back to establish a proper siege. Meanwhile by september 5th, Hanyang was also surrounded.  Defending Hanyang was a Hubei division led by Liu Tsolung who placed artillery on some fortified high points. When the NRA was just about to launch an assault, suddenly Liu Tsolung, overseeing the majority of Hanyangs defenses defected and helped capture the city and its arsenal. It was a tremendous blow to Wu Peifu as the NRA vanguard was now bypassing Hanyang to threaten his railway link to Honan. Wu Peifu tried to salvage the units he had left to mount a last ditch defensive line over the border hills between Hubei and Honan. Wu Peifu had now withdrawn to the Wushen pass lying on the border, hoping to hold out as more of his Honanese forces advanced south. Yet once again the NRA's superior mobility deprived Wu Peifu of enough time to dig into the pass. After a few assaults, Wu Peifu lost the pass and was driven further back into Honan. The walled city of Wuchang could not be taken as easily as Hanyang or Hankou. Wu Peifu and his men would defend it for well over a month. The NRA did not have proper siege weapons, and the threat of Sun Chuanfang loomed over them.Yet Wu Peifu had not expected Hunan and Hubei to fall so quickly and had not prepared his capital for a long siege. He had 10,000 soldiers, hundreds of thousands of civilians locked within its walls. There were also foreigners within the city and foreign gunboats. The threat of international intervention loomed upon the actions of the NRA. Chiang Kai-Shek telegrammed his foreign minister that a communique should be sent out to inform the world powers “… on the matter of protecting foreign nationals, I have already informed the armies to observe my prohibition against the military occupying or obstructing affairs in foreign-established churches, schools, and the like….” Chiang Kai-Shek personally overlooked the siege to make sure no foreigners were molested.  Just to clear up something that might be confusing some of you, Wuchang refers to one of the 13 urban districts of the capital of Hubei, Wuhan. Now back in mid August, Chiang Kai-Shek called for the capture of Wuhan at Changsha and he had made secret negotiations with Sun Chuanfang to get him to sit out the war. Sun Chuanfang had been quite ambiguous about what he would do, but it was known to NRA intelligence he was massing troops along the borders of Jiangxi and Fujian. Sun Chuanfang made up the excuse he was simply defending his territory from NRA aggression. Apparently Chiang Kai-Shek offered a nonaggression pact and an open invitation to join the KMT, but Sun Chuanfang did not want to give up his new found control over the 5 southeastern provinces for what was perceived to be a lesser role in the KMT. Sun Chuanfang then prepared a two pronged offensive to relieve Wuchang by driving west into KMT territory. Sun Chuanfang was sitting on 200,000 troops and Chiang Kai-Shek was well aware of the threat he posed. Thus Chiang Kai-Shek would go for broke, casting the dice of fate once more.  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. Generalissimo Chiang Kai-Shek rolled the dice of fate when he unleashed an offensive against Wu Peifu's holdings in Hunan and Hubei. The gambles paid off big time as the NRA swarmed their enemy, taking prisoners and war materials. However Sun Chuanfang was now entering the fray, a real fight would soon unfold.

Isn't the Art of War predicated on overcoming opponents psychologically?More important than China's five thousand years of continuous history is the collective memory and experiences of Chinese people today and how it affects their cultural psychology for business negotiations and cooperation.Few people approach cross-cultural communications with this degree of empathy, but should we?UPCOMING BOOKStrategic Pragmatism for De-Risking Post-COVID China: Circumnavigating Cultural and Psychological Landmines Inside the Chinese Arena is a timely and indispensable guide for Westerners seeking to understand how to collaborate with Chinese stakeholders in the post-pandemic era. Drawing upon an overview of China's historical relationship with the West and how perceptions and misperceptions evolve, this book helps readers develop a winning approach to managing the interpersonal relationships they will need to succeed—Guanxi. This book serves students, entrepreneurs, and business leaders curious about assembling a repertoire of tactics and strategies that better align with the emotional psychologies of Chinese players and the rigid national sentiments they exhibit inside the Chinese arena.New Author Page: https://www.provocativechina.com/

Pragmatic Psychology Explained!Which factors are most important for navigating China business today?I believe two ideas capture the essence of piloting your Guanxi engine toward the best possible outcomes in the Chinese business arena...Pragmatism and Psychology. #chinabusiness #chineseculture #artofwar #guanxi #communications #negotiations #psychologyhttps://www.provocativechina.com/blog/sp6

This is “The Chinese Business Arena” .. And today we're going to discuss the fallacy of our collective myopia in the post-Covid-19 era for doing business in China. We're going to review the REAL CULPRITS that cause communications breaking down with our Chinese counterparts, and I'm going to show you how to operate this...THE GUANXI ENGINE#chinabusiness #Guanxi #chineseculture #Face #Communications #China #Mandarin #learnChineseNew Author Page: https://www.provocativechina.com/

History is woven from different narratives, perspectives, and interpretations, and there is a saying that "History is written by victors." Perhaps more poignantly, Hermann Göring, Churchill's enemy in World War II, is recorded as saying, "The victor will always be the judge, and the vanquished the accused" at the Nuremberg trials. From the Western perspective, China has never been the victor, so our history is the only one we prescribe. Today, as the historically defeated, colonized, and once unequally divided China rises in power and influence, most Westerners fail to contextualize their perspective of history and its collective psychological effect.UPCOMING BOOKStrategic Pragmatism for De-Risking Post-COVID China: Circumnavigating Cultural and Psychological Landmines Inside the Chinese Arena is a timely and indispensable guide for Westerners seeking to understand how to collaborate with Chinese stakeholders in the post-pandemic era. Drawing upon an overview of China's historical relationship with the West and how perceptions and misperceptions evolve, this book helps readers develop a winning approach to managing the interpersonal relationships they will need to succeed—Guanxi. This book serves students, entrepreneurs, and business leaders curious about assembling a repertoire of tactics and strategies that better align with the emotional psychologies of Chinese players and the rigid national sentiments they exhibit inside the Chinese arena.New Author Page: https://www.provocativechina.com/

Last time we spoke about Feng Yuxiang and Zhang Zongchang. Both men were born into poverty, rose through the ranks of the military, earning popularity. Feng became known for his integrity and generosity. He played a pivotal role during the Xinhai Revolution and the subsequent warlord era, often switching allegiances opportunistically. Feng embraced Christianity and enforced discipline among his troops, earning the nickname "the Christian General." On the other side of the shoulder, Zhang Zongchang became infamous for his brutality and excesses as the "Dogmeat General." His rule over Shandong was marked by tyranny, corruption, and lavish indulgence. While Feng focused on discipline, education, and infrastructure, Zhang oppressed his subjects, enriching himself and his inner circle. Feng was often portrayed favorably, while Zhang reveled in his notorious reputation. Ultimately, they were emblematic figures of the tumultuous warlord era, shaping the course of Chinese history.   #96 Meet the Southern Warlords   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. So two episodes back I introduced you all to the Northern Warlords. The father of warlords, Yuan Shikai basically created them all. When Yuan Shikai built his Beiyang Army, many of his best officers became the Northern Warlords after his death. Thus the Northern Faction as its sometimes referred to, really was an elite club of Beiyang Generals who simply were vying for power. They were all scrambling to fund their private armies and whoever at any given time had the strongest force was able to exert control over the Beiyang government located in Beijing. Within this dynamic there was a quasi balance of power going on. For the most part it was dominated by the three largest cliques in the north, the Anhui Clique, Zhili Clique and Fengtian Clique. Yet this really only applied to Northern China. Going back in time somewhat you will remember, when Yuan Shikai stole the presidency, this led to multiple rebellions, notably sprouting in the southern provinces. Dr Sun Yat-Sen stepped down from the provisional presidency, but he had not given up on his dream of a real republic for China. After the assassination of Song Jiaoren in March 1913, many believed Yuan Shikai had ordered the hit. Yuan Shikai proceeded to abuse his power and this led to southern provinces declaring independence. First was Jiangxi, followed by Jiangsu, Anhui, Shanghai, Guangdong, Fujian and so forth. This all culminated with the Second Revolution of 1913. Unfortunately for the rebels, Yuan Shikai's Beiyang Army yet again proved their might, achieving a complete victory over their revolutionary uprisings. KMT loyalist politicians still refused to submit to Yuan Shikai, so he simply dissolved parliament and began reorganizing China using loyal military governors in the provinces. The KMT may have been dissolved, but they were not down for the count.  After Yuan Shikai proclaimed himself emperor, Dr. Sun Yat Sun established the Chinese Revolutionary Party on July 8th of 1914, but this time his old friends and colleagues refused to join him such as Huang Xing, Hu Hanmin, Chen Jiongming and Wang Jingwei. They had seen it all before. Everytime they created a movement against Yuan Shikai, he simply crushed them, they wanted no part of it. As a result, Dr Sun Yat-Sen lost the limelight, he went back into exile, biding his time. After Yuan Shikai's death, Dr Sun Yat-Sen returned to China where he formed a military Junta at Guangzhou to oppose the Beiyang government. The military Junta held a vote, electing Dr Sun Yat-Sen as Generalissimo. Wu Tingfang was appointed Minister of Foreign Affairs, Tang Shaoyi as Chief Finance Officer, although he did not accept the position, Cheng Biguang became the Chief Navy Officer and Hu Hanmin became the Chief Transportation officer. One of the first actions the Junta took was to denounce Duan Qirui and his colleagues as rebels and vowed they would reunify China in a grand “Northern Expedition”. With this proclamation, the Constitutional Protection War had officially begun. The war or better called a movement for now was basically the KMT's third revolution. It was put simply to defeat the Beiyang Government. However, not everyone saw eye to eye. In late 1917, many officials such as Tang Jiyao, Mo Rongxin, Lu Rongting and Tang Shaoyi convened a meeting with southwestern warlords. The purpose of the meeting was to see if they could recognize the Beiyang government and form a coalition with them, basically they were seeking a compromise with the Northern Warlords. Dr Sun Yat-Sen was outraged when he found out and placed blame on the southwestern warlords who he believed had sabotaged the Junta. He resigned angrily in May of 1918, going yet again into exile in Shanghai.While in Shanghai he found supporters and on October 10th of 1919 resurrected the KMT. After this point Dr Sun Yat-Sen would be in conflict with Southern Warlords, basically vying to control southern provincial bases of power. Initially this would be around Guangzhou and Guangdong. Now as most of you probably already know, while Dr Sun Yat-Sen founded the KMT, it ultimately was inherited by a man named Chiang Kai-Shek. Chiang Kai-Shek was born October 31st in Xikou, Zhejiang. He descended from a family of salt merchants. Early in life he became interested in the military. Now he lived during a rough time, China suffered military defeats, natural disasters, famine, rebellion en masse, unequal treaties and such. In 1906 after  his first visit to Japan he began pursuing a military career. He enlisted in the Baoding Military academy that year and then went to the Tokyo Shinbu Gakko, a preparatory school for the IJA Academy for Chinese students. While there he became a revolutionary seeking to end the Qing Dynasty so a Han led Chinese republic could emerge. In 1908 he befriended Chen Qimei and it was Chen who introduced him into the Tongmenghui. After graduating from the Tokyo Shinbu Gakko, Chiang served in the IJA from 1909-1911.  When Chiang heard of the Wuchang uprising he rushed back to China, intending to serve as an artillery officer. He led a regiment in Shanghai under Chen Qimei. Then in 1912 there was a conflict between Chen Qimei and Tao Chengzhang, a revolutionary alliance leader who opposed Dr Sun Yat-Sen. Historians differ on what exactly happened, but its possible Chiang had a hand to play in the assassination of Tao. Regardless Chiang rose up through the ranks and continued to serve under Chen Qimei. Now Chen Qimei had friends in the underworld, such as the Green Gang led by Du Yuesheng. The Green Gang was a criminal syndicate in Shanghai and again historians differ on the extent, but it seems Chiang brushed shoulders with them often. Chiang Kai-Shek became a founding member of the KMT but found himself on the losing end of the Second Revolution in 1913. He fled to Japan in exile, but also secretly traveled to the Shanghai international settlement. Its said there he began working with underworld groups, like the Green Gang. On May 18th, 1916 Yuan Shikai had Chen Qimei assassinated, prompting Chiang to succeed him as leader of the KMT in Shanghai. In 1917 when Dr Sun Yat-Sen came back, Chiang quickly joined up with him, cultivating a spot as his number 2. Now I don't want to give away future episode content just yet, so I will stop it there for the KMT Clique.  The next clique as you may have guessed is of course the Chinese Communist Party. Now we talked quite a bit about its foundation, but for a refresher. After the May Fourth Movement of 1919, numerous foreign ideologies flooded into China, one was Marxism. The Russian Revolution had a profound impact on China. Hundreds of thousands of laborers during WW1 went over to Russia and found themselves stuck in the civil war. They came back and brought with them what they learnt. Two men in particular were greatly inspired by Marxism, Chen Duxiu and Li Dazaho, they were also the first two prominent Chinese figures to endorse Leninism and for a worldwide revolution to take place. They ushered in the New Culture Movement, then aided the May Fourth Movement, but by 1920 they both became very skeptical about reforming the current political situation of China. In 1921 the CCP was founded with help from the USSR. The founding national congress of the CCP was helped between July 23-30th 1921 with only 50 members, amongst whom were Li Dazho, Chen Duxiu and Mao Zedong. The CCP grew quickly, originally being held in a house in the Shanghai French Concession until they were caught by police. They moved to Jiaxing, Zhejiang, electing Chen Duxiu as their 1st General Secretary. Chen became “China's Lenin” and certainly the CCP continued to ally themselves to the USSR for both had a common enemy, Japan. Again just like with the KMT, while Chen Duxiu and Li Dazhao were the initial leaders, Mao Zedong would inherit the leadership.  Mao Zedong was born December 26th of 1893 near Shaoshan in Hunan. His father was an impoverished peasant who grew to be one of the wealthiest farmers in Shaoshan. Mao grew up in rural Hunan and stated in memoirs he was regularly beaten by his father who was a very strict man. His mother, Wen Qimei was a devout buddhist and Mao would follow in her footests trying to become a Buddhist, but ultimately abandoning the path as a teenager. He received a confucian based education and his family arranged a marriage when he was 17 to Luo Yixiu, ultimately to unit their land-owning families. Mao refused to acknowledge the marriage and quickly moved away. The poor Luo was shamed by this and would die in 1910. Mao was a voracious reader, he loved the Romance of the Three Kingdoms and Water Margins from a young age and continued to read whatever he could get his hands on. Eventually his reading led him to a political awakening. He began reading Adam Smith, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Charles Darwin, Thomas Huxley, Montequieu and other western works. He was also interested in history, he took a particularly interest to Napoleon Bonaparte and George Washington.  Mao moved to Changsha for middle school education in 1911 where he came into contact with the revolutionary fervor of the time. He was inspired by Dr Sun Yat-Sen, even wrote about how he thought he should become president in a school essay. Mao like many others cut off their queues during the Xinhai Revolution. Mao found himself joining a real army as a private soldier, but never saw any real combat. In 1912 he resigned from being a soldier and discovered socialism from a newspaper. Mao then enrolled in a police academy but dropped out. He then tried a soap-production school, law school, an economics school and a government run middle school, dropping out of all of them. He spent his time in Changsha's library, reading classical liberal works. Once his father figured out he was basically not doing anything but reading, he cut his allowance, forcing Mao to move into a hostel. Mao then tried to become a teacher and enrolled in the 1st normal school of Changsha. While there he befriend professor Yang Changjia who introduced him to the newspaper “the New Youth” by Chen Duxiu. Mao became inspired, and organized a Association for Student Self-Government that formed protests against school rules. He published articles in the New Youth beginning in 1917 and joined the Society of the Study of Wang Fuzhi, a revolutionary group in Changsha. He began reading about WW1, finding solidarity with the stories of soldiers, but also with workers. After graduating in 1919 he immediately moved to Beijing where his mentor Yang Changji had a job at Peking University. Yang got him a job as an assistant librarian to Li Dazhao. From here Mao became more and more influenced by Marxism, reading about the Russian revolution from the New Youth and books written by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. Mao joined Li Dazhao's study group becoming more and more enthralled with Marxism. He returned to Changsha working at a primary school while also organizing protests and promoting the New Culture movement there. Mao helped organize a general strike in Hunan, before he returned to Beijing to visit the terminally ill Yang Yangji. After this Mao moved to Shanghai where he met with Chen Duxiu and some prominent KMT members. Mao would brush shoulders with these KMT members often and became one of the founding members of the CCP. Again like with the KMT I don't wont to give away too much future events, so I will stop it there for the CCP. The next group was the Yunnan Clique who were born out of the Xinhai Revolution when Cai E declared Yunnan independent. Cai E had been the commander of the 37th Brigade of the New Army. After the Xinhai Revolution, Cai E tossed his lot in with Yuan Shikai, leaving behind Tang Jiyao to govern Yunnan. When Yuan Shikai initiated operation Walrus Emperor, Cai E covertly departed Beijing and returned to Yunnan to get the old gang back together. He was nearly assassinated on November 11th, but managed to flee to Japan and then Yunnan. Once back in Yunnan he established the local National Protection Army to fight Yuan Shikai. Cai E declared Yunnan independent again and quickly invaded southern Sichuan. Yuan Shikai sent his Beiyang Army south, but found this time his army was less than willing to fight. After Yuan Shikai's death, Cai E retained the position of governor-general over Yunnan and governor over Sichuan. The National Protection War bolstered Cai E as a national hero, however disaster struck in 1916 when he died suddenly of tuberculosis. His chief Lt Tang Jiyao inherited the mantle. Tang Jiyao brushed shoulders with Dr Sun Yat-Sen helping him set up his new KMT in Shanghai and would remain a KMT loyalist. Tang Jiyao also brushed shoulders with the Green Gang who helped him set up an opium trade in Yunnan. Opium grew exceptionally well in Yunnan, its climate was perfect for the plant. Like most of the cliques I will soon be talking about, events unfolded in Northern China that led southern provinces to feel another government was required. A few rival governments would come and go, but the first significant one would be established in Guangzhou and Tang Jiyao joined its committee. Within this government a political war was fought amongst numerous cliques, including Dr Sun Yat-Sen's KMT. As for those other Cliques that would do political battle, one would be the Guizhou Clique. The Guizhou Clique was founded by Liu Xianshi who was born in Xingyi Guizhou. Liu was born into a landlord family who were heavily involved in leading local militias during the late 19th century. He alongside his cousin Liu Xianqian were military men, like their father before them Liu Guanli, who was a regimental commander who helped suppress a Hui uprising. Liu Guanli bolstered his family name to the point the family became heavily dominant within the military forces of Guizhou. During the Wuchang Uprising, Guizhou was tossed into a panic. Li Xianshi went to the capital to help suppress the revolution. Meanwhile, Zhang Bailin, a Tongmenghui leader in Guizhou alongside others stormed the capital and forced the governor, Shen Yuqing to step down. On November 4th, they declared Guizhou independent. However the wannabe revolutionaries failed to take measures to protect their gains and soon Shen Yuqing was fighting back. Liu Xianshi found himself appointed as the Chief of Staff of the Privy Council of a provisional government. Thus emerged a battle between the revolutionaries and counter-revolutionaries. The counter revolutionaries sought assistance and turned to the recently emerged strongman, Cai E of Yunnan. They asked him to invade Guizhou to stop the crisis. Cai E dispatched Tang Jiyao with some troops who entered Guizhou rather peacefully and began to organize proper governance. Then Cai E received panic messages from Tongmenghui Guizhou members asking him to not meddle in Guizhou affairs, and with Sichuan looking more appetizing he backed off. Cai E ordered Tang Jiyao to divert his forces and march into Sichuan. However Tang Jiyao complained that in order to comply he had to take a route through Guizhou and this resulted in his army being chased by revolutionary forces. Well that's one way of stating the story, the other is Tang Jiyao simply sought to conquer Guizhou. Regardless, Liu Xianshi helped Tang Jiyao launch a successful coup against the current Guizhou Junta. Thus Tang Jiyao became the military governor of Guizhou on March 4th of 1912 and Yuan Shikai recognized this a few months later. For his role, Liu Xianshi was appointed Minister of War. Tang Jiyao did what all decent dictators do, he massacred all revolutionary forces he could catch in the province. While Tang Jiyao was at the head, Liu Xianshi used his new political power to begin placing family members in prominent positions. In the meantime Tang Jiyao treated Guizhou like a fiefdom, forbidding modernization efforts and prevented any development of the KMT. It goes without saying Tang Jiyao was not beloved in Guizhou. In November of 1913, Cai E was placed under house arrest and stripped of his rank, so Tang Jiyao ran back to Yunnan to grab his position as governor. This left the mantle of Guizhou to fall into the hands of Liu Xianshi. When Yuan Shikai declared himself Emperor, Liu Xianshi initially kept Guizhou neutral, but as the situation looked more and more dire for Yuan Shikai, he bandwagoned and declared independence on January 27th, 1916. Liu Xianshi sent forces to fight in the National Protection War, then after Yuan Shikai's death, the Beiyang government appointed Liu Xianshi as the military governor over Guizhou. From there Liu Xianshi had pretty much dictatorial power and he soon went to work forming his own Guizhou clique. To make matters even more complicated, within the Guizhou clique were the Xingyi clique, of the Liu family because they came from Xingyi and the Tongzi clique led by Zhou Xicheng. Basically two families and others fought for dominance, leading to a cycle of assassinations followed by seizure of power. Now we come to the Old and New Guangxi Cliques. The Old Guangxi Clique came about after Governor Chen Bingkun declared Guangxi independ during the Wuchang uprising. After the rebellion, Yuan Shikai installed Lu Rongting as the military governor of Guangxi and during the second revolution Lu remained loyal. Yet when Yuan Shikai went Walrus emperor mode, Lu bandwagoned with Cai E and Tang Jiyao. Meanwhile Long Jiguang proclaimed Guangdong independent and after Yuan Shikai's death, Guangxi and Guangdong found themselves at war. The war largely came about when Dr Sun Yat-Sen split from the Guangzhou government, he dispatched a subordinate, Chen Jiongming to seize Guangzhou and effectively get rid of the Guangxi warlords. Both Long Jiguang and Chen Jiongming were KMT loyalists, thus this led Lu Rongting into a bitter war with Guangdong and even Yunnan got involved, and the whole mess saw the Old Guangxi clique beaten severely. Again I don't want to tell to much as it will be covered in future podcasts, but a hell of a mess, lot of backstabbing.  After the Guangxi-Guangdong wars, yes plural, Li Zongren, Bai Chongxi and Huang Shaohong formed the New Guangxi clique alongside a brand new Guangxi Army. Li Zongren was its commander in chief, Huang Shaohong deputy commander and Bai Chongxi chief of staff. They all worked together to kick Guangdong forces out of Guangxi and Li Zongren emerged the military governor over Guangxi. The New Guangxi clique came about during the formation of a new coalition I can't get into here. While both the old and new Guangxi cliques were on the smaller side, they would take part in the reunification of China. Next, although we spoke already a bit about them was the Guangdong Clique. Long Jiguang would die in 1918 leaving the mantle to fall onto Chen Jiongming. Cheng Jiongming had joined the Tongmenghui in 1906 and participated in a coup attempt in 1910 in Guangzhou. During the Xinhai revolution Chen Jiongming was part of another uprising in Guangzhou. After this Chen Jiongming received the post as commander in chief of the Guangdong Army and fought for the KMT. He did however butt heads with Dr Sun Yat-Sen, particularly over the direction of reform the KMT should take. Dr Sun Yat-Sen sought to unify China by force and institute change through a centralized government based on a one party system. Chen Jiongming sought a multiparty federalist system with Guangdong being the model province and hoped for a peaceful reunification of China. There would be a split between the two men and it would be quite violent. The Guangdong clique like the old and new Guangxi clique was again a small part of something bigger cooking in the south. The next is the Sichuan Clique which consisted of a loose group of smaller warlords each with their own regions within Sichuan. Each had their own defensive zone, with their own police, political and economic bases. There were not many large conflicts, it mostly came down to coalitions dismantling a disgruntled warlord. As I already mentioned, Yunnan invaded Sichuan during the Yuan Shikai days, and the local Sichuan warlords initially welcomed the Yunnanese, siding with them to declare independence. But as you can imagine, the Yunnanese soon were seen as overbearing and a lot of soured feelings erupted. This was only further soured when troops from Guizhou came into Sichuan. In 1916, the Sichuan troops were led by General Liu Cunhou who quickly established a ceasefire with the Guizhou and Yunnanese forces. Because of her geography, Sichuan was always relatively isolated from the rest of China, thus she turned inwards instead of outwards. For the majority of the warlord period Sichuan was split into half a dozen districts under military rule. During the late 1920s even into the 1930's 5 Sichuan warlords dominated the scene, Yang Sen, Liu Wenhui, Deng Xihou, Tian Songyao and Liu Xiang. Neither had enough power to take all the others on, thus there was a real balance of power at play. In a true game of thrones like fashion, the Sichuan scene was that of warlords forming secret alliance, pitting one against another, but no one ever truly dominated the province. Of the 5 Sichuan warlords, Liu Xiang would be the most influential. Liu Xiang dominated Chongqing and its surrounding areas. His territory straddled the Yangtze River, thus rich in maritime trade, in essence he wielded significant control over Sichuan's economy. By the 1930's Sichuan was ruled by Liu Xiang in the east; Liu Cunhou in the northeast adjoining Shaanxi; Tian Songyao in the north adjoining Gansu; Deng Xihou in the northwest adjoining Qinghai and Liu Wenhui in the southwest adjoining Xikang and Yunnan. Within a small central enclave was also Yang Sen.  After Yuan Shikai's death the province fell into quite a lot of disorder. All the district governors fought each other and quite often at that, but they rarely ever crossed the Sichuan border. The common people of Sichuan lived in despair and fear nicknamed their warlords as Rotten Melons or Crystal Monkey's. Liu Xiang was born in 1889 to a modest family, received a decent education and joined the military. He rose quickly and saw a lot of warfare. By 1926 he had established a strong base in Chongqing and he held onto it until his death. Now the standard troops of Sichuan were lesser than other parts of China. The Sichuan armies were funded largely by taxes levied on grain, salt and opium. Holding Chongqing along the Yangtze, Liu Xiang had an enormous economic base and thus managed to enrich himself and funded a large army. He enforced strict military discipline, though he was known to turn a blind eye to his officers' rackets. Despite this Liu Xiang's army had a lot of problems facing bandits in the rural areas. One of the other Sichuan Warlords, Yang Sen was quite flamboyant. His nickname was rat face because he had a small mouth. Yang Sen had a small enclave, but it consisted of Chengdu which he tried to clean up. He paved streets with flagstone to help increase rickshaw traffic, a rather new concept for many there. Chengdu happened to have a commodity all warlords wanted, an arsenal, so Yang Sen was by no means a poor warlord. While Sichuan seemed to always be in a state of decline, Chengdu in comparison was quite opulent and luxurious. Now again, and I keep saying it, I don't want to give up too much of the later stories, but Sichuan like many other southern provinces would join the Northern Expedition and help reunify China. Now despite the warlord era being technically ended in 1928 when China was reunified, in reality the warlords were around well into WW2. The Sichuan Clique would brush shoulders a lot with Chiang Kai Shek. During the Second Sino-Japanese War Liu Xiang led the Sichuan 15th Army during the battle of Shanghai and the 23rd Army Group during the battle of Nanjing. Later in 1938 he took 100,000 soldiers out of Sichuan to fight the Japanese, showcasing how far he had come as a commander as well as a warlord. Last there was the Hunan Warlords, a similar situation to that of Sichuan, just a lot more autonomous warlords. The first prominent Hunan Clique member was Tan Yankai, a member of the KMT who became the military governor of Hunan. Tan Yankai had connections amongst Guanxi warlords allowing him loose control over his province. He tried to arouse the people of Hunan to take active opposition to the Northern Warlords, but this prompted Duan Qirui to toss a Hunan born commander, Fu Liangzuo to come take his job. Tan Yankai was forced to take the job as civil governor while Fu became the warlord. Tan Yankai appealed to his Guangxi buddies for help. Even Tang Jiyao of Yunnan asked if he could invade Hunan to help, air quotes on help, but it never came about. Unfortunately for Tan Yankai, Hunan was right beside the Zhili Clique and thus got engulfed in the Northern wars. Hunan basically as a result of geography was stuck in the middle of bigger players and would be tossed around like a ragdoll. Tan Yankai would be backstabbed by a subordinate who favored the Zhili, then later another KMT member would simply grab up Hunan during the Northern expedition. Honestly to call Hunan a Clique is a bit of a stretch as it was more of just an area that had overlaps with other cliques all fighting for territory. Now that basically covers the southern cliques, theres actually more, but if I talk about them we would get lost in the weeds as they say. What is important to know going forward, the North-South divide would see two distinct theaters at play. In the North the Anhu, Zhili and Fengtian Cliques would fight for dominance over Beijing. In the South, many KMT oriented, Communist Orient and independent warlords would fight for dominance over Guangzhou, and later in history other rival southern governments. Typically the Warlord Era is taught North to South and I think that will be the case with us because its simply more cohesive. As Samuel Jackson playing Ray Arnold in Jurassic Park once said, “hold onto your butts” because the warlord Era about to begin.  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. So we talked about the Northern Warlords and now the Southern Warlords. Time to put the Game of Thrones intro music on, as we are soon going to jump into a world of cutthroat backstabbing, secret alliance, little fingers and megalomaniac figures who will all fight to reunify China under their own image. As for the Chinese common people, as usual they will suffer tremendously, continuing the Century of Humiliation. 

As a Western leader in China, should you be concerned that promoting someone invariably leads to others feeling apprehensive (焦虑 Jiāolǜ)?Managing Chinese employees is simple: tell them what to do.Leading Chinese employees is complicated for Western leaders, requiring a deep understanding of their cultural and emotional psychologies. Their responses, usually in the form of 'lip service,' are cultural displays of respect and a pragmatic way of deepening Guanxi by giving Face. Rarely do Chinese people reveal their true feelings or intentions, as their reasoning is circular and their perspective of 'Truth' is relative.UPCOMING BOOKStrategic Pragmatism for De-Risking Post-COVID China: Circumnavigating Cultural and Psychological Landmines Inside the Chinese Arena is a timely and indispensable guide for Westerners seeking to understand how to collaborate with Chinese stakeholders in the post-pandemic era. Drawing upon an overview of China's historical relationship with the West and how perceptions and misperceptions evolve, this book helps readers develop a winning approach to managing the interpersonal relationships they will need to succeed—Guanxi. This book serves students, entrepreneurs, and business leaders curious about assembling a repertoire of tactics and strategies that better align with the emotional psychologies of Chinese players and the rigid national sentiments they exhibit inside the Chinese arena.New Author Page: https://www.provocativechina.com/

The term 'Chinese arena' describes any business scenario with participants from mainland China. This term is apt because it encapsulates the emotional and psychological stresses that dominate when values and ideologies clash. Accepting alternative paradigms is possible when we imagine learning tactics for a new 'game' in a new field of play. Tradeoffs feel less personal, and withdrawing ethical and moral considerations become more acceptable. Furthermore, when we reimagine our experiences in China as a game dominated by psychological warfare, like poker, we replace judgment with curiosity and craft a new persona conditioned to win the China game inside the Chinese arena. Instead of studying ancient strategies written over two thousand years ago, we will extrapolate Art of War tactics that Chinese people utilize subconsciously based on common behavior patterns, and we will develop winning tactics that work in the new normal of post-COVID China.UPCOMING BOOKStrategic Pragmatism for De-Risking Post-COVID China: Circumnavigating Cultural and Psychological Landmines Inside the Chinese Arena is a timely and indispensable guide for Westerners seeking to understand how to collaborate with Chinese stakeholders in the post-pandemic era. Drawing upon an overview of China's historical relationship with the West and how perceptions and misperceptions evolve, this book helps readers develop a winning approach to managing the interpersonal relationships they will need to succeed—Guanxi. This book serves students, entrepreneurs, and business leaders curious about assembling a repertoire of tactics and strategies that better align with the emotional psychologies of Chinese players and the rigid national sentiments they exhibit inside the Chinese arena.New Author Page: https://www.provocativechina.com/

Every interaction in China can either improve a relationship or trigger a cloak of deception called goodwill extraction. While this might sound dramatic, it simply contrasts the possible outcomes of every engagement you'll encounter doing business in China. Once you understand your interactions in the proper cultural context, you will no longer be surprised by any response or development. In hindsight, it was entirely predictable when a trusted local partner in Nanjing began lying, cheating, and stealing from our company. When a deficit of goodwill reaches a tipping point, it is natural in Chinese psychology to seek substitutes in other parts of the local value chain. Westerners call it corruption, but in Chinese culture, this behavior is justified and socially acceptable. In my upcoming book, we will refer to any "bad" behavior as GOODWILL EXTRACTION because when your Guanxi engine isn't properly maintained and running smoothly, even good relationships will veer off course, and avoiding a fatal crash should be the priority of anyone competing inside the Chinese arena.UPCOMING BOOKStrategic Pragmatism for De-Risking Post-COVID China: Circumnavigating Cultural and Psychological Landmines Inside the Chinese Arena is a timely and indispensable guide for Westerners seeking to understand how to collaborate with Chinese stakeholders in the post-pandemic era. Drawing upon an overview of China's historical relationship with the West and how perceptions and misperceptions evolve, this book helps readers develop a winning approach to managing the interpersonal relationships they will need to succeed—Guanxi. This book serves students, entrepreneurs, and business leaders curious about assembling a repertoire of tactics and strategies that better align with the emotional psychologies of Chinese players and the rigid national sentiments they exhibit inside the Chinese arena.New Author Page: https://www.provocativechina.com/

How do you perceive China TODAY (post-COVID), and are you aware of how YOUR PERCEPTIONS affect how your Chinese counterpart perceives you?Questions about China in our collective Western consciousness have ebbed and flowed over the centuries, from an exotic oriental kingdom with vast riches to "Yellow Peril," provoking Western fears in the mid-nineteenth century that Asians, in particular the Chinese, would invade our lands and disrupt our values, to becoming our largest economic trading partner at the turn of the century to biggest threat and most consequential geopolitical competitor today.The only thing that has endured that we can agree on is that China matters!UPCOMING BOOKStrategic Pragmatism for De-Risking Post-COVID China: Circumnavigating Cultural and Psychological Landmines Inside the Chinese Arena is a timely and indispensable guide for Westerners seeking to understand how to collaborate with Chinese stakeholders in the post-pandemic era. Drawing upon an overview of China's historical relationship with the West and how perceptions and misperceptions evolve, this book helps readers develop a winning approach to managing the interpersonal relationships they will need to succeed—Guanxi. This book serves students, entrepreneurs, and business leaders curious about assembling a repertoire of tactics and strategies that better align with the emotional psychologies of Chinese players and the rigid national sentiments they exhibit inside the Chinese arena.

Escucha martes y viernes la opinión de Jorge Meléndez Ruiz.

https://www.genejhsu.com/SCUU2024As we enter 2024, what are the trends affecting US-China relations, and what factors are within our control and influence?As an observer, most geopolitical flashpoints are trending negatively. We all know what they are because we are bombarded constantly with reminders in both mainstream and social media while disinformation propaganda campaigns continue to polarize our civil discourse.Within my control, I am sharing the entire Solving CHINA's Unknown Unknowns program for free to anyone who feels we CAN do better in our personal, business, and political relations with our Chinese counterparts.4 modules, 25 video lessons, and a 100-page workbook is my attempt to help my Western friends and colleagues reimagine their "Guanxi" relationships to create more constructive communications with counterparts in China.https://www.genejhsu.com/SCUU2024#uschina #chineseculture #chinabusiness #learnchinese

Watch this Episode on Youtube Episode Description Welcome to another compelling episode of the Working With Us podcast. Today, we journey to Taiwan with global HR solutions consultant and intercultural trainer Sunny Foehr-Huang. Together, we'll unravel the intricacies of Taiwanese work culture, exploring everything from the vital concept of 'Guanxi' to the enduring influence of Confucian values. Whether you're considering business opportunities in Taiwan or are simply fascinated by its unique work environment, this episode promises to be an eye-opener. Join us as we continue our voyage through the world's diverse work cultures.

Minter Dialogue with Ashley Recanati Ashley Recanati is a fellow French-American and now a fellow author. Living in Shanghai and working as the MD of the APAC region for a German industrial company, Ashely recently released his book, "AI Battle Royale, How to protect your job from disruption in the 4th Industrial Revolution," published by Copernicus Book, Springer (Mar 2023). In this conversation, we discuss the challenges faced by people working in business to have the right attitude and skills to adapt to this fast-changing world. How to to futureproof yourself and stay up to date with the new technologies; and how can we help our kids get ready? We look at some of the cultural differences, especially with his perspective being based in China, and we explore some of his key concepts and recommendations in his book. The one I liked the most was Guanxi.   If you've got comments or questions you'd like to see answered, send your email or audio file to nminterdial@gmail.com; or you can find the show notes and comment on minterdial.com. If you liked the podcast, please take a moment to go over to Apple Podcasts or your favourite podcast channel, to rate/review the show. Otherwise, you can find me @mdial on Twitter.

Episodio sponsorizzato da Digital Combat Agency! Seconda parte dell'intervista ad Alberto Giusti, founder di Guanxi e mille altre avventure imprenditoriali. Con Alberto tocchiamo tantissimi temi davvero interessanti: il parallelismo tra i nostri tempi e il rinascimento il modello win-win-win come fare a cambiare carriera l'importanza del feedback e della misurazione dei KPI l'importanza di conoscere noi stessi e le nostre passioni prima di prendere decisioni importanti e molto altro! Trovi show notes e link discussi su https://officeofcards.com/podcasts Scopri la Newsletter di Office of Cards!  Segui il canale YouTube di Office of Cards!  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Episodio sponsorizzato da Digital Combat Agency! Prima parte dell'intervista ad Alberto Giusti, founder di Guanxi e mille altre avventure imprenditoriali. Con Alberto tocchiamo tantissimi temi davvero interessanti: l'importanza di concentrarci sulle nostre reazioni a quello che ci succede il valore dell'esplorazione le opportunità che si creano quando siamo disposti a condividere il rischio le fasi della vita di una startup i modelli organizzativi moderni e molto altro! Trovi show notes e link discussi su https://officeofcards.com/podcasts Scopri la Newsletter di Office of Cards!  Segui il canale YouTube di Office of Cards!  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Kai held several top management positions in China for many years before he decided to start his own business. In this episode, you will learn what it is like living in the same neighborhood as Tesla in Shanghai and what that means for daily life. You`ll understand several reasons why it is essential to start your business while still being employed elsewhere. (Guanxi, Visa, Language, etc.) You`ll get insights on how to find the right business partner and how to navigate the Chinese business landscape as a foreigner, especially being a first-time entrepreneur. Connect with Kai on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kai-marcel-dodel-64987467/

RSVP for Weekly Speak, Learn, Practice, Master (SLPM) Chinese Language & Cultural Interactive MeetupsBeginning July 19, 2023 at 10:00am PST"You must be more open-minded and flexible to succeed in China"https://www.genejhsu.com/ (Free RSVP)I'm sure you've heard this advice before? It may be good advice, but it is vague and nonsensical because these suggestions cannot be quantified or qualified in the proper cultural context.vague 费话 fèihuà (to talk at length / to waste one's breath)nonsensical 废话 fèihuà (nonsense / rubbish / superfluous words / gently sarcastic = No kidding!)These words are catchphrases that allow failure to have an excuse rather than being a prescription for elevating performance. So I'll be hosting weekly Zoom interactive workshops for the rest of 2023.Practice key Chinese phrases in the proper cultural contextRole play essential Guanxi rituals with real-time feedbackDiscover critical psychological factors at play in the Chinese arenaMaster perception management with Chinese counterpartsRSVP once and you'll be invited to each weekly session for the rest of 2023, receive a free copy of The Chinese Honeymoon Period, and receive early access to EXACTLY WHAT TO SAY IN CHINA manuscript.10:00am PST bi-weekly sessions starting on July 19, 20237:00pm PST bi-weekly sessions starting on July 26, 2023Demonstrating flexibility and open-mindedness in China is challenging due to cultural differences and inadequate translations, so this interactive event is a must for anyone that wants to be perceived more positively by all Chinese stakeholders.Learn the psychological rules of reciprocity and how to craft a persona that leads and inspires in China."A cultural dichotomy is just a contrast that lacks curiosity."https://www.genejhsu.com/ (Free RSVP)#chinabusiness #chineseculture #speakchinese #mandarinchinese #expatchinese #chineselanguage #chinaexpat #mandarin #chinese #china

Do you need help building successful business relationships (GUANXI 关系) and negotiating more smoothly with Chinese counterparts? Have you ever been perplexed why your goodwill gestures in China appear well-received but rarely yield their intended outcomes?This Chinese language and cultural immersion experience examined how to create a new China persona and approach (modus operandi) that results in more positive and fruitful interaction patterns with Chinese partners. Perception management in the Chinese cultural context is analyzed within five levels of ascension to construct a development plan based on different experience levels and psychological profiles.After this session, you'll begin wondering whether you've been focusing on the wrong things to elevate your success in doing business in China, and you can contact us to access more content, training, and coaching to know EXACTLY WHAT TO SAY IN CHINA.https://www.genejhsu.com/#chinabusiness #chineseculture #speakchinese #mandarin #chineselanguage #expatchinese

Guanxi can be loosely understood as instrumental social relationships that form a network to be used by individuals for their personal benefit. Guanxi is a long-enduring part of Chinese society, but how is it used in a modern context. Is it still important for doing business? How should foreigners understand guanxi? And is guanxi now doing more harm than good in modern world?Chapters00:00: Intro2:18: Definitions  of Guanxi11:39: Origins of Guanxi19:03: Building Guanxi Relationships31:51: Guanxi in China's Business World40:58: Guanxi goes abroad?44:27: Negative Societal Effects of Guanxi49:Negative Societal Effects of Guanxi-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Sources- Guanxi: How China Workds, Yanjie Bian, 2019- Chinese Guanxi: An Integrative Review and New Directions for Future Research, Chao C. Chen,  Xiao-Ping Chen, and Shengsheng Huang, 2013- Cultivating Guanxi as a Foreign Investor Strategy, John A. Pearce II and Richard B. Robinson, Jr., 2000- Cultural and Organizational Antecedents of Guanxi: The Chinese Cases, Liang-Hung Lin, 2011- Entering Guanxi: A Business Ethical Dilemma in Mainland China?, Chenting Su and James E. Littlefield, 2001- Guanxi Networks in China: Its Importance and Future Trends, Jin Ai, 2006- Guanxi's Consequences: Personal Gains at Social Cost, Ying Fan, 2002- The Culture of Guanxi in a North China Village, Yunxiang Yan, 1996- Whither guanxi and social networks in China? A review of theory and practice, Jane Nolan & Chris Rowley, 2020- What Happens When the ‘Gaokao' Rewards Who, Not What, You Know, Sixth Tone, https://www.sixthtone.com/news/1005924- Qinghai Official Died After Sharing Seven Bottles of Baijiu, Sixth Tone, https://www.sixthtone.com/news/1012818- Bank Worker Slapped, Insulted for Not Drinking With Colleagues, Sixth Tone, https://www.sixthtone.com/news/1006093- Businesses benefiting from political connections harm China's economic growth, https://www.manchester.ac.uk/discover/news/businesses-benefitting-from-political-connections-could-harm-chinas-economic-growth/Support the showSign up for Buzzsprout to launch your podcasting journey: https://www.buzzsprout.com/?referrer_id=162442Subscribe to the Sinobabble Newsletter: https://sinobabble.substack.com/Support Sinobabble on Buy me a Coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/Sinobabblepod

In this Meetup (May 11, 2023 Replay), we debunk common China myths that can lead to poor assumptions and attitudes when doing business in China. We discuss Chinese cultural dichotomies with the West and Art of War tactics that can be employed to create more constructive communication patterns and better outcomes. TimestampsSelf-Introduction Rituals [00:04:08] Gene explains the importance of self-introduction rituals in Chinese culture and how they can open more doors in China than just speaking Chinese.Cultural Dichotomies [00:04:58] Gene discusses the importance of understanding Chinese cultural dichotomies with the West to walk further in China in your own shoes.Paratrooper Manager [00:08:32] Gene explains the concept of a paratrooper manager in China, which metaphorically describes how Chinese people feel about China expats or foreigners assigned to live and work in China.Self-Introduction Rituals [00:09:29] Gene discusses the importance of self-introduction rituals and a scorecard to maximize opportunities to deepen Guanxi.Chinese Cultural Dichotomies [00:13:04] Gene explains the difference between how Westerners and Chinese people view the law and authority differently.Negotiations in China [00:17:52] Gene contrasts how Americans and Chinese people typically approach negotiations differently.Importance of ongoing relationship [00:19:42] Chinese people continue to deepen their relationship with you even after the contract is signed. Why is this important, and how should you adapt?Cultural dichotomy of time [00:23:49] Westerners view time as linear, while Chinese people view it as relative. What other differences exist, and why is it important?Deliberate ambiguity as a weapon [00:28:14] How can this tactic be employed to gain an advantage in negotiations?Importance of cultural dichotomies [00:29:31] Gene discusses the importance of understanding cultural differences and not being judgmental towards Chinese behaviors. Why?Deliberate silence in negotiations [00:31:04] Gene advises Westerners to be deliberately silent during negotiations in China, as it can create an advantage and reduce circular conversations.https://www.genejhsu.com/#chinabusiness #chineseculture #speakchinese #mandarin #chineseemployees #chinaexpat #chinese #china #negotiations

‘This kind of “respect” can be a slow-acting poison. When a person gets used to being “respected”, that's when she is in danger'In the eighty seventh episode of the Translated Chinese Fiction Podcast we are undertaking hard Graft. Betraying little more than a glance askance, Li Peifu shows us how corporate, state, and personal interests fuse all too comfortably. Guanxi-grinding with me is humble translator and noted Sweeney-enjoyer, James Trapp.-// NEWS ITEMS //READ: Massachusetts Review publishes Chiou Charng-Ting's Raining Zebra FinchesWATCH: Book club discussion of Jia Pingwa's Backflow River 倒流河LISTEN: My nemesis tackles poetry from Dalian sex workers-// WORD OF THE DAY //(秀 – xiù – refined/ear of grain)-// MENTIONED IN THE EPISODE //90s -> 10s education policy on foreign language education in England80s & 90s corruption in ChinaJeffrey Kinkley's writing on corruption fictionAphantasia - the inability to form mental imagesZhang Ping - a notable anti-corruption fiction author-// Handy TrChFic Links //Help Support TrChFic // Episode TranscriptsINSTAGRAM

March 8, 2023 HIGHLIGHT REELS - Guanxi (关系) is exceptionally difficult to translate because its application in the Chinese cultural context is dynamic, emotional, and nuanced depending on the “relationship,” often misrepresented as its translation. Grammatically, Guanxi is a noun, but it resolves a situation as an adjective and an explanation like an adverb, as its level is the overarching factor influencing behaviors. Hence, we simplify its understanding with a metaphor, the GUANXI ENGINE, which is the driving force for all interactions in China.Most of the role playing and interactive portions have been removed to highlight the concepts covered during the first portion of this experience.AGENDACuriosity Exercise Chinese Phrases Warm-Up Guanxi Engine Introduction Cultural Dichotomy Business Primer Art of War Negotiation Tactics For more information about Mandarin Savvy Chinese Language and Cultural Immersion Meetups:W: https://www.genejhsu.com/E: info@emechina.us#chinabusiness #chineseculture #speakchinese #mandarin #chineselanguage #expatchinese #guanxi #workshop #meetups

November 17, 2022 - One China Cultural Awareness Center of Orange County Meetup workshopAGENDAI. Introductions (自我介绍 zìwǒ jièshào) - Part 1 (https://youtu.be/GnbkFIWAmBc)II. Deep Immersion  Chinese Cultural Concept Chapter 1: HOW THEY OPERATE (Guanxi 关系) - Part 2 (https://youtu.be/_rDLaG1Nbck)Chapter 2: WHAT THEY CONSIDER (利益 Lìyì) - Part 3III. Role PlayingIV. LIVE Q&A Chinese Introductions 自我介绍 SCORECARDhttps://youtu.be/ifCw4pYjONAOCCAC Meetup Grouphttps://www.meetup.com/one-china-orange-county/After The Chinese Honeymoonhttps://www.genejhsu.com/atchbook

Excerpt from my upcoming book, After The Chinese HoneymoonOne of my first previews of the importance of Guanxi in Asian business culture were the early stories told by my Uncle John, who in the 80s was the National Sales Manager for Zenith based in Austin, Texas. Uncle John was raised in Taiwan following the Chinese Communist Revolution in 1949, so his opportunities to immigrate began much earlier than we have witnessed over the past two decades of Chinese citizens flocking overseas with their wealth and children. #Chinabusiness #Chineseculture #ArtofWar #Guanxi #Dell #MichaelDell https://www.genejhsu.com/atchbook

Guanxi is the oil the greases the engine of life in China. But when things go wrong, it all comes tumbling down, and fast. This is the story of Bo Xilai and Gu Kailai. And then, back to the school.

Are you AWARE of your own Truth-Default, which is your tendency to trust a stranger?It's been studied and sociologically proven that "the majority of people believe most people are mostly honest most of the time."  Chinese people naturally default-to-skepticism toward people they don't know (陌生人 mòshēng rén), not just foreigners, because by definition, they only care about the level of Guanxi. Default-to-skepticism is how they think, but you wouldn't know it by how they behave, as every gesture of friendliness or goodwill is for the sake of developing/deepening Guanxi, while in a literal sense there isn't any ‘trust' as we understand its meaning in the West behind their passion and camaraderie.https://www.genejhsu.com/

Dans ce court numéro solo d'AfrikChine , je reviens sur deux sujets d'actualités. Le premier concerne le scandale de corruption et de trafic d'influence qui touche le conseiller stratégique du président congolais, Felix Tshisekedi. Nous faisons un parallélisme entre le trafic d'influence dans le secteur minier congolais et la culture du guanxi chinoise. Comment ces deux concepts se sont rencontrées en RDCongo et ont facilité, d'une certaine façon, la percée chinoise dans les mines congolaises. Dans le second sujet, nous abordons la question du modèle de paix de la Chine dans la Corne de l'Afrique. À quoi pourrons-nous ou devrons-nous attendre de la part de Pékin dans la région. 

September 14, 2022 - Another amazing opportunity to help our future leaders develop a healthy mindset for China business as a keynote speaker at Scheller College of Business in Atlanta. We explored media bias and our cultural biases in the context of our objectives in China, with Chinese companies, and cooperating with Chinese people.We introduced a framework to develop greater 'Awareness' to create a new China reality and more favorable 'Outcomes.'00:00 Introduction03:35 Preparing your mindset07:05 My promise11:11 Cultural dichotomies13:30 Time dichotomy as an example28:20 Creating a new reality in China36:46 Framework of Awareness, Action, Outcomes44:33 Q1 What advice for doing business in China today?48:45 Q2 What's the #1 Cross-cultural challenge facing foreigners in China today?53:32 Q3 Can you explain the importance of Guanxi?56:14 Q4: Can Guanxi be developed in a short amount of time?#chinabusiness #chineseculture #guanxi #crossculture #mindset #culturalawareness #selfawarenesshttps://www.genejhsu.com/

July 20, 2022 Meetup Replay - Why should you care about HOW our Chinese counterparts think, and what focus can help us acquire that insight?想法 xiǎngfǎ is influenced by a mixture of factors: environmental, media, and social It's based on a set of emotional and psychological factors that reflect a person's attitude, perspective, and Relationship-To-Face, which is the balance of a person's "propensity to give Face as a tactic" and "require Face as an emotional need."什么关系？ shénme guānxì “Guanxi relationship” (Hierarchical)什么感觉？ shénme gǎnjué “Perception” (Bargaining Power) To join our next Meetup and get your copy of The Chinese Honeymoon Period, visit:https://www.genejhsu.com/#chinabusiness #chineseculture #guanxi #mianzi #uschina #learnchinese #mandarinchinese

July 6, 2022 - Replay clip of THEIR (Chinese) ATTITUDE (心态 Xīntài) from our bi-weekly Guanxi practice session Meetup.Where do Chinese attitudes come from (INSIGHT), and how should we engage with them to achieve better outcomes?What's the significance of our 脸色 liǎnsè (facial expressions that reflect one's attitude) in setting a positive tone for a more productive interaction?Practical Definition: 心态 Xīntài is an attitude and corresponding worldview that's derived from a person's upbringing and environment in which they were raised—IT IS IMMUTABLE.To join our next Meetup and get your copy of The Chinese Honeymoon Period, visit:https://www.genejhsu.com/ #chinabusiness #chineseculture #guanxi #mianzi #uschina #learnchinese #mandarinchinese

June 22, 2022 - Replay clip of HOW THEY FEEL (委屈Wěiqu) overview for our bi-weekly Guanxi practice session Meetup.So, how do we understand these Chinese emotions in the proper cultural context AND avoid the consequences of unintentionally causing them?Practical Definition: 委屈 Wěiqu is repressed feelings of injustice, unfairness, and grievance that cannot be conveyed to those who caused it. It is feeling wronged by someone in a position of authority.But, 焦虑 jiāolǜ is an emotion that doesn't exist in Western culture…LISTEN and find out the DIRECT and INDIRECT causes and how to avoid them…To join our next Meetup on July 6, 2022 (links to RSVP >> https://www.genejhsu.com/)

THE CHINESE HONEYMOON PERIOD highlights 10 Chinese cultural concepts that are widely misunderstood but essential for understanding HOW Chinese people think, WHY they behave the way they do, and HOW to create more positive communication patterns that lead to more constructive cooperation.Practical Definition: 铁饭碗 Tiěfànwǎn is a subconscious mentality of ordinary Chinese people that collective lifetime employment, which is sustainable based solely on maintaining Guanxi connections, is desirable.LinkedIn Post on Jan 24, 2022https://www.linkedin.com/posts/genejhsu_practical-definition-%E9%93%81%E9%A5%AD%E7%A2%97-ti%C4%9Bf%C3%A0nw%C7%8En-is-a-activity-6891386239849775104-3kw2Special thanks to all the contributors to this discussion:Dr. Miguel Cerna https://www.linkedin.com/in/dr-miguel-cerna-alternatives/Anastasia Chevtchenko https://www.linkedin.com/in/monacolaclasse/Iain Hoggarth https://www.linkedin.com/in/iain-hoggarth-084200a0/Manfred Huschka https://www.linkedin.com/in/manfred-huschka-b8b9a55/Juliette Pitt https://www.linkedin.com/in/juliette-p-845206143/Guan Her Ng https://www.linkedin.com/in/guan-her-ng/Grace Liping Guo https://www.linkedin.com/in/gracelipingguo/Simone Harre https://www.linkedin.com/in/simone-harre-0834a786/Cristina Arcaini https://www.linkedin.com/in/cristinaarcaini/Greg Robb https://www.linkedin.com/in/gregrobb339/All ADD YOUR VOICE posts, videos, and podcasts updated weeklyhttps://www.genejhsu.com/addyourvoicePre-order THE CHINESE HONEYMOON PERIOD (February 18, 2021)https://www.genejhsu.com/chinesehoneymoonFollow me on LinkedIn and join the conversationshttps://www.linkedin.com/in/genejhsu/Subscribe to the China Myth Podcasthttps://www.genejhsu.com/chinamythpodcast Watch the China Myth Podcast on YouTubehttps://www.youtube.com/c/GeneHsu

THE CHINESE HONEYMOON PERIOD highlights 10 Chinese cultural concepts that are widely misunderstood but essential for understanding HOW Chinese people think, WHY they behave the way they do, and HOW to create more positive communication patterns that lead to more constructive cooperation.Practical Definition:  给面子 Gěimiànzi is proactively giving someone OUTWARD demonstrations of flattery, praise, and respect for the purposes of deepening Guanxi.LinkedIn Post on Jan 17, 2022https://www.linkedin.com/posts/genejhsu_%E7%BB%99%E9%9D%A2%E5%AD%90-g%C4%9Bimi%C3%A0nzi-weekly-chinese-cultural-concept-activity-6888862344525557760-GpodSpecial thanks to all the contributors to this discussion:Denis Niedringhaus https://www.linkedin.com/in/denis-niedringhaus-ab547740/Dr. Miguel Cerna https://www.linkedin.com/in/dr-miguel-cerna-alternatives/Anastasia Chevtchenko https://www.linkedin.com/in/monacolaclasse/Iain Hoggarth https://www.linkedin.com/in/iain-hoggarth-084200a0/Manfred Huschka https://www.linkedin.com/in/manfred-huschka-b8b9a55/Juliette Pitt https://www.linkedin.com/in/juliette-p-845206143/Guan Her Ng https://www.linkedin.com/in/guan-her-ng/Grace Liping Guo https://www.linkedin.com/in/gracelipingguo/Simone Harre https://www.linkedin.com/in/simone-harre-0834a786/Cristina Arcaini https://www.linkedin.com/in/cristinaarcaini/Liping Yan https://www.linkedin.com/in/liping-y-053900174/Todd Cornell https://www.linkedin.com/in/todd-cornell/ All ADD YOUR VOICE posts, videos, and podcasts updated weeklyhttps://www.genejhsu.com/addyourvoicePre-order THE CHINESE HONEYMOON PERIOD (February 18, 2021)https://www.genejhsu.com/chinesehoneymoonFollow me on LinkedIn and join the conversationshttps://www.linkedin.com/in/genejhsu/Subscribe to the China Myth Podcasthttps://www.genejhsu.com/chinamythpodcastWatch the China Myth Podcast on YouTubehttps://www.youtube.com/c/GeneHsu

Topics Discussed and Key Points:●      China's consumer PC market in the early-to-mid-90s●      Why many companies struggled in the 90s while Intel thrived●      Building the Chinese social networking app Guanxi in the early-2010s●      Co-founding mInfo, the official mobile search provider to the Beijing Olympics in 2008●      What internet marketing looked like 20 years ago and the impact of mobile in the 2000s●      The early days of eCommerce and the reasons for its dramatic growth●      What foreign VR companies should do to localize for the Chinese market●      How VR is perceived in China versus the West and why it took a long time to take off●      Where the world of VR will be in five to ten years●      What Alvin means by: “The metaverse will expand—not replace—the internet.” Episode Summary:Today on The Negotiation, we talk with Alvin Wang Graylin, China President at HTC. Established in 1997, HTC is an award-winning developer of smart mobile, connected technology, and virtual reality products.Alvin is also the Vice President of the Industry of Virtual Reality Alliance (IVRA) and the President of the Virtual Reality Venture Capital Alliance (VRVCA)He has almost three decades of business management experience in the tech industry, including 20 years in Greater China beginning with a Senior Management position at Intel in 1993. Prior to HTC, Alvin was a serial entrepreneur, having founded four venture-backed startups in the mobile and internet spaces, covering mobile social, adtech, search, AI, big data and digital media. Additionally, he has held $100+ million P&L roles at a number of public companies.Today, Alvin is a sought-after speaker and thought leader on the topics of VR/AR/AI in China and globally.According to Alvin, the key consideration of the Chinese government when scrutinizing foreign companies is the potential for technology transfer. It is a tit-for-tat attitude that Intel was able to abide by, resulting in a collaboration that allowed Intel to thrive while most other foreign consumer PC brands of the time failed to penetrate the market.Alvin looks back on an early career in the Chinese tech space where innovation was rampant, including his experience building the Chinese social networking app Guanxi in the early-2010s, as well as co-founding mInfo, the official mobile search provider to the Beijing Olympics in 2008.Finally, Alvin discusses his current role at HTC developing smart mobile and VR products. “In every area of this industry,” he says, “there is innovation happening.” The common thread tying these innovations together is the ever-blurring line between distinct features that make up many of today's devices. In the near future, Alvin foresees smart mobile devices for both personal and business uses, incorporating both VR and AR technologies.Alvin concludes: “Anybody at any age can put on these devices and behave as they do in the real world.” Key Quotes:“There were tons of consumers out there, but how could we get them into this new internet and multimedia trend that's starting to happen? One was getting the prices way down. Two was helping to take all this global content and localizing it. And three was creating low-end consumer channels that were able to reach out to all the different Tier 2, 3, 4, 5 cities that didn't have access to computer stores at all.” “COVID has really accelerated the interest in the VR industry because people are now recognizing that you're able to be productive and eliminate a lot of business travel. But having a video-only interaction doesn't feel personal enough; so, VR is a good alternative to help enhance that sense of being together.” “The old internet—the 2D internet—does not go away. I actually see the Metaverse as, essentially, the internet of today expanded to interact with 3D content, and uses an immersive device—like an AR or VR device—to experience this 3D content. But at the same time, these 3D devices can be used to experience 2D content. [...] This Metaverse needs to be something that's completely open, that anybody can get into through any device, and it needs to be at global standards to be operable across different countries and different operating systems.”

Today on The Negotiation, Scott Laprise discusses his transition from a career in diagnostic medicine to a financial analyst and researcher for emerging markets specifically within China.Scott considers Chinese languages the most important to study because of the country's position as a key player in world business. Additionally, it is not enough to converse in English because the Chinese express themselves in a way that is fundamentally different from how Westerners communicate. Scott, therefore, always seeks to understand the Chinese point-of-view on any given topic before negotiating or simply engaging in conversation with them.Asked whether China can still be considered a “communist” country, Scott brings context by explaining that, at one point, China (specifically Mao Zedong) sought to partner with Russia, adopting elements of their political philosophy as a result. Today, however, Scott actually thinks of China as the most capitalist country today: While there are semblances of a planned economy, the Chinese themselves are very business-oriented and are masterful negotiators.Scott also touches on the term guanxi as a cultural aspect that is uniquely Chinese. “The more you know people, the more you can ask things of them, and the more they can ask things of you.” He also notes that time also plays a big role, considering the long-term worldview of China. That is, the longer you have known someone in China, the stronger the reciprocal dynamic present in the relationship.Scott goes on to talk about the ever-growing consumer culture in China. The speed and bottom-line-oriented nature of the economy mean less customer loyalty and a higher amount of unregulated pollution, but all of it speaks to China's ability to pivot and become a dominant player in the market with relative ease.On that note, Scott states that China is not actually innovative but adaptive. The Chinese do not care all that much about patents because they do not focus on novelty. He believes that countries that impose patent laws “are the rich countries that have a lot to lose”. China's point of view, on the other hand, is to simply “catch up”.Scott shares his point of view on the complicated situation around the US-China “Phase 1” trade deal, as well as what gives him an edge as a financial analyst. His viewpoints on these subjects are obviously influenced by the fact that Scott is a Westerner who lives locally—boots on the ground—in China, with business experience in both cultures.

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

When it comes to buying and selling a business, one of the first questions we typically get is how long it takes to complete the deal. These businesses are complex and looking beyond the multiple to see the potential value and return opportunities for return is key. Today's guest experienced a longer deal closing than expected but he is being rewarded for his patience. Some mistakes take longer to clean up than others but this is the story of how much the seller wanted to sell to this particular buyer despite the snags in the process. A born entrepreneur right out of high school, Karl spent over 10 years building a handyman business on his own. Right around the time he heard about Amazon and a local kid making a million dollars on the platform, Karl started to dabble and found his way in. After a few false starts, Karl became experienced in the Amazon marketplace. Today he walks us through his business buying process and his plans for doubling discretionary earnings in a very short time. Episode Highlights: The background on the business Karl purchased and how he knew it was the right fit for him. What happened with the SBA loan process and how that affected the deal. How Karl maintained the rapport with the buyer throughout the process. Why a price increase occurred during the process. The importance of keeping on top of the lender throughout. Karl's plan for doubling his margins and how he's implementing it. The importance of an in-face meeting with your Chinese manufacturer and how often to have one. Karl's advice to anyone planning a purchase. Transcription: Mark: Alright guys welcome to another episode of the Quiet Light Podcast. Real quick before I talk to Joe; if anybody out there hasn't left a rating on the Quiet Light Podcast, do me a favor go to iTunes or Stitcher or wherever you listen to us, leave a rating, we certainly appreciate it. Makes us feel good. Makes us feel like we're doing a decent job at this whole podcasting thing. So thanks in advance to everybody that has done that. Okay, so Joe, when we're talking to a potential seller or even talking to a potential buyer one of the topics that come up often, is how long does it take to complete the deal, right? And we have people wondering am I going to get this done in three months and what have you. The fact is these businesses are complex. On the upfront summaries what we see usually is pretty plain and simple. You see revenue, you see earnings, you see a multiple, and you kind of think well this should be nice and capsid and quick. And sometimes it is. But other times you have to look a little bit deeper. And you and I have talked about this before, right? For buyers to make sure you're looking beyond the multiple and the multiple is one point of data. And for sellers and buyers alike to also have patience with the process and understand that you're selling a complex asset. I know you had Carl on the podcast who is a recent buyer of one of our properties. And it was one of those situations where the deal took longer than expected and the numbers weren't as necessarily straightforward as maybe you would think when you just look at this. But the net result for him as a buyer and for a client were phenomenal by being patient and looking a little bit deeper. Joe: Yes, no question. This particular deal took I want to say from letter of intent to closing seven and a half months which is probably the longest I've ever had. There's really specific reasons for it. And Carl is partly to blame for it because he made a mistake on his application to the SBA lender. So we had to do the process essentially twice. The seller Kevin hung in there with Carl because Carl was a nice guy. It made a difference. And at one point when the deal fell apart, we had to go back. Well, my advice was to go back out to market for an awful lot more money because the business has grown a lot; probably worth $400,000 more. Carl and Kevin got along so well that Kevin said no I don't want to do that to Carl. Let's just bump the price thousand $160,000; crazy. Most buyers would walk away. They'd be like no. Yesterday it was this price today you want $160,000 more. Carl didn't do that and he's being rewarded greatly for it right away instant equity, in my opinion, a quarter of a million dollars in the business. And then some things that he's doing on his end immediately once that first container load comes in doubling the discretionary earnings because of a focus on reducing COGS. It's just fantastic what he's doing. And it's a great lesson for buyers and sellers to be patient, to be focused on helping each other, and not looking just at that multiple. Mark: You know I love this sort of story because I get it right from a buying standpoint you're looking at a lot of deal flow you need to evaluate businesses quickly. So the temptation is often to look at just the high-level metrics and to eliminate something based on that. But so many of these businesses and if I could just say you know maybe even a plug for Quiet Light you know when we bring a business to the market we usually believe in that company pretty strongly as being a good value play for buyers. And so taking the time to kind of dissect it and to understand more than the top-level metrics and what's going on underneath and look for those opportunities for that immediate win and again looking beyond that multiple. So this is a really good story of somebody doing just that and seeing a really quick reward on that. I want to listen to this. I want to hear all the dynamics. This is one of those more complex deals and I think a really good example of what happens when the deal isn't straightforward but still works out in the end. Joe: Yeah. Hey, one other thing. I had a really strange interruption everybody in the audience I want you to get 10, 15 minutes in. Chris, our producer asked me about a particular person. I'm trying to find out who this is. If you could just get that far listen in and shoot me a note. I want to try to track that person down. Thanks, Ben. I appreciate it. Let's go to the podcast. Joe: Hey folks Joe Valley here from Quiet Light Brokerage. Today I've got Carl Sally on the podcast. Carl recently bought a business from me and it was a long, long process. I think we; I'm going to throw a quick data to Carl, we originally went under LOI in October of 2018 and didn't close until June of '19 and we want to share the story of why with the buyers and sellers and talk about what happened during that period, how the business grew out, how we fell out of LOI, got back under LOI and eventually closed to the point where both you and the seller are thrilled and some of the things that you're going to do with the business going forward. Before we go over all of that why don't you give a little bit of background on yourself so the folks listening know who you are Carl? Carl: Sure yeah so right out of high school I basically started out a little handyman company; very artificial, just a smelting yard and painting walls for a long time, offered a few contractors to work for free until I got enough knowledge to do plumbing and electrical and basically do the house from the ground up. I did that for 10 years. So in my late 20's that's when I learned about Amazon and I always had podcasts and things trickling in my ears, self-help books and what have you while I was tiling bathrooms or roofing on a house. And I heard the 4-hour workweek and kind of the same time I heard about The 4 Hour Work Week I heard about this kid, he was making a million dollars a year on Amazon. And so I said man if she can do it there's gotta be a way I can figure this thing out. And I did some free work for him at his warehouse. And he taught me a lot and just basically pointed me in the direction of YouTube. I learned everything I could. I had a few failures in my first project; my first product on Amazon. I think me and my partner lost maybe 10 grand on our first product and that was all credit card money. And then the very next product that we launched we did it the right way and we're able to actually start a business on that foundation and eventually grew that to five, six million dollars in gross sales. Joe: That's amazing. Now let's just come back to this kid that was making a million bucks on Amazon. You didn't hear it online. It was somebody local in the area that you live in? Carl: Yeah, it was just some random kid from the community. Joe: And you tracked him down and said look man I'm here for free I just want to learn? Carl: I was great at electrical work and I knew he needed some electrical workers for his house so I just thought he could do a little trade with me. Joe: Fantastic. Carl: He was thrilled. It was nothing to him. Joe: That's beautiful. That's the way to do it. I remember hearing a story a long time ago doing the same; self-help books and everything like that where somebody was trying to develop a project, a real estate development but he didn't have enough money. So he brought in people with all of the expertise and gave him a piece of the pie and all that sort of stuff. Where there's a will there's a way. I mean that's exactly what you've shown here. And now you've bought a business that's quite sizable and you're running a business that's even much larger. So cool, good for you. That's a great story. Let's give a little background. Again just a review. We just closed the transaction. Today we're recording on June 26. I think we closed on the 12th of June but we went under LOI a long time ago. You and I've been talking for I guess it would be eight or nine months now. This is the first time we're on video folks as well. You might want to jump over to the YouTube channel and see what's going on there. The first time we've seen each other. We'd like to do a lot more video in the initial buyer-seller conference calls now. But this is our first shot together. So that's great. Carl: Yeah. Joe: But it's been a long time. We initially; a little bit of background on this particular listing folks; it's a listing that I had listed for sale I think it was in late '17. And the growth rate on it had slowed. The owner of the business had some competition and he reduced prices. And his sales went up, his total volume of orders went up I guess I should say. His revenue did as well but the margin shrunk because he cut costs. So growth had slowed to 1 or 2% and it concerned buyers. So for owners out there, sellers think about that aspect of it. It concerned buyers. Growth has slowed. He slashed prices. He had some great growth opportunities in the package but just hadn't implemented them out of fear. He didn't want to make a whole lot of changes before listing the business for sale which generally is right. But in this case, the combination of that slowed growth because of cutting prices to fend off competition turned buyers away. And we didn't sell the business. We had it listed for three or four months. And Kevin decided look I'm going to go ahead and implement these growth opportunities and come back at this in the future. And he did. He came back. He implemented those growth opportunities. He fixed what was broken and came back and the growth was phenomenal. Nine months later, 10 months later we saw a 25% year over year improvement in total revenues and discretionary earnings. We listed the business for sale. And probably within a couple of weeks, I think Carl you got the winning bid. We put that under offer at full price. You knew what you could do with the business which is fascinating because this one is it's in the home sector, right? You can do installation yourself and things of that nature. I didn't know there was a connection before with your background, how you grew up in that first 10-year high school. That's awesome. So it makes more sense now. But why don't we talk about it? This is we went under LOI and it was going to be an SBA loan and it fell apart. We were almost there and then we lost it because we didn't get a commitment letter. Can you talk a little bit about your process in terms of first maybe why you liked this one and then what the SBA loan process was like for you and then we'll get into how it fell apart? Carl: Yeah sure. So the business itself I really liked because well one the numbers were right, it had a very; like you said a strong year over year growth which I found attractive. All the products; it had a small amount of products for the amount of revenue so that that ratio of low amount of SKUs to high revenue was very attractive to me. So it's less management and I could handle it myself. Also, the review ratings were really high. It had a great historical keyword ranking for most of the SKUs and all of those things kind of checked all the boxes for me. And then next I wanted to talk seller because a lot of it has to do with the seller as well. I knew this would be a long process with an SBA loan and I wanted to work with somebody who was honest. So as soon as I got on the phone with them I realized this guy's a straight shooter. And I've dealt over the last 15 years with a lot of shady characters and I just don't like doing business with those kind of people anymore. So it checked every box at that point and I said okay I should definitely; I don't want to screw around. I want to give him a good offer. I felt that it was a good price for the amount of growth that it had left to do. So I made that full offer. And then we started to kind of get into my first SBA loan experience. Joe: I definitely want to talk about that. Let me talk about price. We're not going to give away the price here folks but we went with an aggressive multiple on the low side. I'd say we were at about 2.8 times even with that growth. But it's because we have listed it prior and it didn't sell. So we were able to list it for more than we did the prior time but at a multiple, that was relatively conservative at 2.8 times. And it's important to note that because of what we're going to get to at the end. So okay, back to the SBA process. Carl: Sure. So we started the process and of course, I think I approached two different lenders and they had said each one of them had said oh yeah we'll get this done for you in 30 to 60 days. And I'm like oh man that is faster than I thought. That's great. Let's do it. Joe: Yeah. Carl: So we got it going. And I think about three or four months into the process that's when we realized that I had actually screwed something up in the paperwork. There was a personal financial statement for those who haven't done SBA loans yet, you have to declare everything that you have as an asset on this paper. And so in good faith, I didn't want to commit a federal fraud. So I declared everything that I thought was an asset including two properties that I have been receiving rental on for the last three years not thinking anything out. And then they went to go do a title search on them and realized that my name's not on the deed. It's not on the loan. And to me, those have always been performing assets. But in reality, since I didn't technically own them and I just had kind of handshake agreements; paper agreements on the side with the other partners in those properties, they didn't check out. And it's almost like I was in danger of performing fraud even though I came from a place of honesty. I put assets there that I technically don't really own. So anyway the bank at that point couldn't lend to me. I was untouchable. And we had just wasted four months of time. And of course, the seller was furious. I was furious. And the lender was furious. Everybody is just mad because I screwed up. I still wanted the business. The business was growing hand over fist every month. And I realized there was no way at this point even if the seller decides to keep me on that I'm going to be able to pay the same price for it. So I reapproached Joe and the seller just to see if we can still make a deal happen. There was literally just this one little thing in the paperwork that I screwed up so I knew I had this other stack of 100 documents that I could just drop in the next lender and hopefully accelerate that process. And I think probably Joe knows better. You know better. But I think that the seller saw that I had been moving extremely quickly the entire time even though when the lender had been dragging their heels. It was probably par for the course. I see now. And so he knew that I would perform very quickly for the next lender and that there was no way that he was going to get another SBA buyer that would move faster than me. And we had also established a pretty good rapport over the over those four months. He's kind of like I am in that he likes to move fast. So I think we just kind of hit it off and he still was able to sell it to me even though we did raise the price which I thought was an extremely fair raise. I thought he really took care of me on that which I'm grateful for. We were able to make the deal. Joe: Yeah let me pipe in there because I have to; people are like what you raised the pricing? You kept going and you bought the business? First I want to touch on a couple of things there. When an SBA lender says yeah we can do this in 30, 45 days; definitely get that done. And you think yeah that's great, that's fast. You have to talk about from what starting point. Lenders have a different definition of closing, of starting; they're really talking about from the commitment letter; 30 to 40 days. And they're right. Sure. But we always want to talk that one language and that's from a letter of intent, right? We signed the Letter of Intent I think with the initial one was October 14. It's going to take anywhere from 60 to 90 days to close that deal. And by closing, we mean what? We clearly define that as money changing hands, asset changing hands, you taking control of the business, Kevin the seller getting funds; all of that is closing. So when anyone is ever talking to an SBA lender talk from the point of the Letter of Intent. Understand that there's going to be a time when you got to put that whole package together, submit it to them, it's going to go to underwriting, then you're going to get a commitment letter. That in itself can take 45 days. And then you're another 30 to 45 days to closing. So that's where we get that 90 days from the SBA side. It can happen quickly. We've got; I think Chuck did one in 45, 42 days something like that. But if it's a sizable deal and more towards the end of the year guess what they want to do it faster because they're trying to hit certain numbers. Yes, they could do it faster all the time right Carl? Carl: Of course. Joe: The other thing I just want to touch on. I'm on a podcast right now with a guy named Carl and I tried to talk my seller out of selling the business to Carl. It is pretty laughable, right? Carl: I don't blame you. Joe: Because when the deal fell through the first time I'm like look, Kevin, your business has exploded. It's worth a lot more now. We need to really jack the price. If we go back out based upon what's happening year to date and this is now, this was March 2019 at this point something. I gave a high number; a much bigger number, that the business is worth probably $350,000 more than we were under LOI with you. And you know what? He's like you know what Joe I really like Carl. We get along really well. I like him. All the paperwork is done. If we can just get it submitted the right way with another lender we could still fast track it. And you know what let's see if we can find a fair price that's going to work for Carl and me. So we did. We went back to you and we did jack the price. You ended up paying, and I'm not telling the list price, but you ended up paying about $160,000 more for the business. Carl: Right. Joe: Oddly enough the multiple still went down. Carl: Yeah, that's how good it was doing. Joe: Yeah. That's how good it was doing. You went from a 2.8 multiple to a 2.55 multiple. Yet you were paying $160,000 more. Now I'm talking about multiples here a little bit. Folks, one of the lessons I want you to get from this, Carl is looking at this business with an eye of what he can do with it, what he can accomplish, and how he can grow it. We're going to talk about that in a few minutes. Not the multiple. The multiple wasn't his main focus. It was wow it's doing this in discretionary earnings based upon things within the business I can correct, fix, shift and even with the same revenue, I'm going to jack up the discretionary earnings and have some instant equity. Speaking of instant equity we talked about it, I think that you have probably a quarter of a million dollars in instant equity in the business because I think it's worth at least that much more right now than what you paid for it based upon the growth. Okay, so there's my little two cents I wanted to go ahead…hold on a sec, my producer is poking his head in. What's up, Chris? This is odd. Okay, he gave me a piece of paper. He's asking me Carl have you ever heard of a guy named Andy Youderian? Carl: I did not. Joe: Okay Chris, no idea. Okay. Hey anybody in the audience listening, if you guys have any idea who Andy Youderian; sounds like somebody from Star Wars, have any idea who the guy is, reach out to me find him, let him know that our producer is looking for him. Alright, I'm sorry for that tangent guys. Back on track. Okay so we went out to another lender and it worked. Just touch on that in terms of how long that process was because you had to resubmit an entire package again. Carl: Right. I mean they want; as soon as they said they wanted to work with me I dropped a document stack on them about 50 pages long; no 50 documents, some of those documents were 20 pages long. Joe: Wow. Carl: I mean it was just a huge stack of paper and in my mind, I'm thinking now we can get this bank down in three weeks. But of course they; when you get legal involved I realize that that's the real linchpin is the lawyers. It just takes so so long to review and get stuff back to you. They would expect to document for me in a week. I hand it to them in 24 hours. They needed it by close of business. They'd have it in five minutes. So I never ever ever want to be the person who's holding the ball. I think with SBA loans you got to just keep the ball in the lender's court over and over and over again. And sometimes it would be even though I'd get it to them so quickly I would be waiting for seven days for a response. Joe: Yeah. Carl: And this just; that time compounds. Joe: You got to keep pushing. Carl: And I would push and I was always squeaky; always squeaky with the lender. Joe: Squeaky but nice folks. You can't put them off. Carl: Squeaky but nice. Yeah, you don't want to put them off because I still do want to do repeat business with these people. So it's a fine line you walk. But I think in the end we really did close that super-fast. It wasn't like maybe even within that two months that they normally promise. Joe: I think it was. It helped; we fast-tracked the package to underwriting which sometimes again takes 30 to 45 days. But because you had it we were able to get there fairly quickly. The other lender, by the way, helped out with that. He gave a lot of the package right over and helped out as well. Alright, so we did close it. Let's jump to the fun stuff so people can learn about what you're doing with this business. We closed June 12th; yeah 11th or 12th, then you and I had a conversation. And you basically told me that you're going to double the discretionary earnings. Can you talk about that a little bit and how you're doing it and what other folks should look at when they're looking at businesses instead of just looking at the top-line number in terms of the meat and bones of the business itself, what you looked at and how you're approaching it so that you know you can increase the bottom line number and the total margins? Carl: Sure. Well, oddly enough I didn't even realize this until maybe three days before closing. But I was really excited to close finally and I put the deal in front of my partner for my existing business who does most of the logistics for us. And he said hey this product is really similar to some of the stuff we sell, why don't we run it past our existing supplier and just get a price out of them before shopping it around to other people in China. And so we did and I think the main item that the seller of the business I was purchasing was paying for; I think he was paying 16.50 for an item that this new manufacturer was willing to make for us equal quality for $8.05. Joe: Wow. Carl: And so I said holy crap this can't be real. So we just got the samples in yesterday and it's pretty similar. I mean probably with another dollar tweak to $9.05 it'll probably be damn near the same product. And at that point—. Joe: How many units is that selling? Carl: I think that's about like 20 a day, 600 a month; 6 to 900 a month. But what that did to the EBIDTA bottom line is I think it increases it by between 80 and 90%. That's incredible. Carl: Yeah. Joe: We get a quarter million equity going in by— Carl: It was a huge windfall. I mean completely unexpected honestly. Joe: When it comes to relationships with your Chinese manufacturers, I understand your business partner from your other business spends a lot of time on that aspect of it. Do you find that it's important to get over there and meet with them face to face and spend a little time with them? Carl: Oh absolutely; 100% yeah. To be able to press the flesh with the Chinese manufacturer is night and day difference. I mean that big of a difference; completely night and day. You're just a number overseas even if you have big order amounts. They like the green but they also like the in face meeting a lot. It's part of their culture. They call it Guanxi over there where it's business relationships; a special word for a business relationship that you develop. And the more Guanxi you can develop with your manufacturer, the more seriously they'll take you even if you have smaller order sizes, even if you're ordering less frequently, they give you the benefit of the doubt many times if you screw something up they'll pick up the slack for you. And some manufacturers will negotiate on their terms as well which is something that for most people who buy from China they know that they're very inflexible on that. But if you meet them enough and bring gifts and you offer respect and just have a good time; just go out, have some cigars and some drinks with them, the more often you do that the more a friend you are they really blur the line between friend and business over there. And the more that you can step into that gray area the more freely the favors flow and the more freely they'll give you really good terms which is even better than in my opinion getting a better price. Terms is everything because your cash flow is helped out so so hugely. So I think it's hugely underrated I think everybody should see their manufacturer. Joe: For those that haven't traveled to China before, how complicated is it? Is it safe? Should you plan on spending three days there or five days, a couple of weeks and see multiple manufacturers? What would you recommend to people that haven't done it before? Carl: Personally, I think at least a week is good. And I think starting their relationship with your manufacturer. Don't just go in blind. Have at least a few months of history with your manufacturer where they see that you do pay and you're a real buyer, you're not just a maybe then they'll already respect you enough to want to extend…roll out the red carpet for you. And just saying that you're going to be there for seven days. They will take care of you. They're extremely honored to have an American guest come to their homeland and care enough to see the things that they like and care enough to see their manufacturing facility that they've spent so much time developing. So yeah they'll take you on tours. They'll pay for your hotels. I mean I've never had it where at least it wasn't at least offered to pay for most of my expenses. They bought my family gifts. I mean I didn't; these were things I was uncomfortable receiving. But I felt like I needed to receive them in order to develop that relationship and not become one-sided. Joe: I've heard that time and time again. I think one of the key things for buyers to take away from that is that if they've never been it's safe to go and people are honored to have you there. Carl: Oh yeah. I felt very safe. Joe: Business relations; Guanxi you call it, is that right? Carl: Yeah, that's what they call it. Right. Joe: So buyers that are looking at businesses one of the ways that if the seller of the business has never gotten on a plane, spend some time with the manufacturers in China. There's probably a good growth opportunity in terms of bottom-line maybe terms and do that. How often do you feel it's necessary to go over? Carl: Maybe once a year if that, if not once every couple of years even. The first meeting is the best. If you can spend a good week there. It makes a huge difference. Joe: You say [inaudible 00:28:42.4] every day or are they taking you beyond the manufacturing facility and recommending other things that you can see in China as a tour? Carl: So we had two manufacturers. Actually the first time we went to we sort of split our time three days with this one three days with that one. And we saw them every day while we were there. We didn't know anything about anything. And we totally explained to them look if you have a business to take care of we can take care of ourselves we'll walk around town and just entertain ourselves with the new sights. But they were pretty adamant about wanting to be with us every day. So that's just how it shook out. Joe: Terrific, that's fantastic. Okay, so a little bit of a tangent there folks but a great recommendation in terms of being a buyer and how to improve the bottom line numbers. Carl: Sure. Joe: Alright, so you're going to improve the discretionary earnings on this business that you already have a quarter-million dollars in terms of equity when you bought it by another 80 to 90%. How long is it going to take that to happen in terms of buying the product and getting it in? Carl: Probably two months. So in two months, we'll start to see those savings in two months. We already have about three or four months of inventory on hand so it's plenty of pad to get the new inventory up and running. But that's probably what's going to happen. And then it'll take another year to log that. A year afterward to log that in as actual recorded earnings. Joe: Right. You're thinking in terms of a resale of the business, total discretionary earnings on the trailing twelve. Carl: Days to log in the equity; right. Joe: The equity itself. Yeah, we have in the past when the cost of goods sold has been dramatically reduced then ordered hit FBA and sales occurred. We have been able to do an add back. And for folks that haven't already heard the podcast on the sale, I did with Mike Jackness on Colorit, Google Quiet Light Podcast Mike Jackness ColorIt or even eComcrew. Mike did a series and honestly, he's a fantastic podcaster if you haven't heard it. I think it's episode 247, 257. Just Google Quiet Light ColorIt eComcrew podcast and learn. Because you actually learn from somebody that's sold a business. And some of the trials and tribulations we went through when you've got four brands in one seller account under one LLC and you're only actually selling one of them. So sellers out there doing that please listen and learn because it's a major challenge. But we got through it. What other things Carl would you recommend to people that are buying a business when they're looking at things like you have and approaching it? You've done something I think really really impressive here; hanging in here for seven and a half months to get the deal closed. Building and maintaining a good relationship with the guy selling the business so he trusted you. We talk about the four pillars here at Quiet Light, well that's the fifth one right there. It's being a good guy, being likable, building good relationships with either your buyer or your seller. What other things do you think are critical when you're buying a business? As people are looking all the time they're looking at lots of things before they find the right fit. What would you recommend they do? Carl: The first thing that comes to mind is anything sold at 5 million we're really looking at SBA funds. I think what I said earlier about just being forefront on pushing the ball into the lender's court; that is so important. If you're lagging on documents then it can damage the entire transaction and the relationship with the buyer. They see that you're lagging. So I mean that is underrated. I've always been a punctual person but I never realized how much that really plays in the business on different levels. I think one of the things that helped me was having built an Amazon business before so I really was comfortable with all of the key metrics and some of the red flags on the account didn't bother me at all because I knew that those specific things were common given the circumstances. So I think it really helps to either have that background or start small. I would never have jumped into this with both feet at this dollar amount with no prior experience. I think I would have rather pick something maybe 10 times less or maybe five times smaller and just gone in with an attitude of this is my intuition and I'm going to learn here. The mistakes I'm going to make, at least I'll probably break even. It's going to be cheaper than college and more lucrative. I think going into a smaller deal is still a good idea even if you can't put up big numbers to show off to your friends. It's not what it's about, right? Get that experience under your belt and then you can make really good decisions down the road. So buying small is good, starting out from scratch I think is a great experience as well. It takes time but you're better off putting in time than losing tons of money I think. Joe: What about finding a mentor? You clearly did that. That's one of the things you mentioned. The kid in the neighborhood that was doing a million on Amazon. Carl: Yeah. To be fair he really just pointed me in the direction of YouTube. That was his biggest recommendation. And I mean you can learn a ton just by listening to people. A lot of my mentors don't know me. I get them in books. I get them in podcasts like this one. I get them in blogs. So there's a lot of free information out there I never took a course and I feel like I've done pretty well. Joe: Well, obviously you've done pretty well. I got to tell you just the YouTube thing I've got a 17-year-old and anything he needs to learn it's on YouTube. Carl: Yeah. Joe: I'm 63 so anybody my age, learn from Carl and those younger; anything you want it's on— Carl: It's crazy. It's information at your fingertips. Joe: At your fingertips and it's free; that's right. Alright, then this is great. We're just about out of time. I appreciate the last nine or 10 months. And I'm looking forward to working with you in the future on some other transaction as well. Carl: Oh definitely. That is not the end. Joe: Alright, thanks for all your time. I appreciate it, your patience and congrats on such a great business that you've got here. Carl: Thank you, Joe. I appreciate it. Links and Resources: Mike Jackness Episode

Executive coach Julia Atkinson shares her experiences coaching teams across three different continents, and provides insight into how to thrive when cultures collide. You'll learn:1. The differences between Eastern and Western styles of communication2. A quick rundown of the four different Myers-Briggs preferences, from ENFJ to ISTP3. What is “Guanxi”? A Chinese word that worldview implications worldwideAbout JuliaJulia Atkinson is an Executive Coach with more than 8 years experience of living and working in China before taking her business to the US, Chicago. 10 years of leading teams in Multinationals in IT and Telecommunication give her first hand corporate know-how. Julia uses an interactive coaching process to help clients attain awareness of deeply rooted beliefs and values and related behaviors. From that awareness, she helps them identify and implement shifts that will effect lasting change where they want it.Items mentioned in the show:The Diamond Cutter by Geshe Michael Roach and Lama Christie McNallySleeping, Dreaming, and Dying: An Exploration of Consciousness by the Dalai LamaThe Biology of Belief by Dr. Bruce H. LiptonMyers-Briggs WorkshopMyers-Briggs preferences cheatsheetIdeapodJulia's LinkedIn pageJulia's websiteMore reflection on guanxiView transcript, show notes, and links at https://awesomeatyourjob.com/ep31See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.