Bureaucratic Stuff in China and Postponement of Russian Dinner

I went to Agricultural Bank of China right at 9 o'clock to open several accounts for stockholders. After lining up for more than a half hour, the clerk rejected my application, making me very irritated by the bureaucratic operation of banks in China and the troublesome process of registering a company in this country. I called my agent and he suggested me to try another bank. Queuing for more than one hour this time in another bank, fortunately, his suggestion worked! Afterwards, I emailed Jolt some data and reminded him to move on the next step as soon as possible.

It is exhausting to set up a company in China. However, I keep telling myself that all these annoying trivia are just beginning of owning my own business. The centerpiece has even not yet begun. So be patient!

At noon of Yesterday, I got Creek’s text message and then phoned her to accept the phone call interview for workshop. The result will not be notified until next week, meaning that I have to keep thinking of this thing until next week. The total required cash for this event is 7600 RMB, but I think it is worthwhile.

Today it is raining in Beijing, resulting in postponement of my appointment with Olive to go swimming this afternoon and then to have an exquisite dinner in a Russian restaurant near Xizhi Men (西直門). I have been looking for this get-together since last night I confirmed my schedule with him. I do need a relaxation and some social life now. Besides, Olive is going to leave China a couples days later. I am sad about his departure but this is the correct decision he has to make. Bless him!

Kick off Company Registration Process and Donate a Few Money to a Beggar

Eventually, I commissioned an agency company to register our start-up and paid 2000 RMB as the deposit. This was a substantial move for me, meaning that I will have to totally devote at least one year to the new business – I do not want to have a failed record of entrepreneurship.

There was a change of shareholders. A PM withdrew from investors partly because, compared with other stockholders, she felt shameful about the paltry sum of her investment and partly because she planed to buy a car after getting a driven license of her own, resulting an exclusive effect on her disposable income. This development did cause some problem on our registration task, but Jolt could solve this issue by himself.

On my way home, I saw one beggar, whose face was so frightening that I do not want to elaborate too much herein. I think that was caused by unfortunately genetic disease. I remembered I used to see him on the viaduct of Sitong bridge (四通橋) last month when I made an appointment with the above-mentioned PM for the start-up discussion. At that time, I did not give him any money and I felt uncomfortable about what I had done. Therefore, this time when I already passed through him and I suddenly realized that this beggar was the one I saw couples weeks ago, I turned back and put ten RMB - which was not too much but which was the amount I could offer in terms of my stringent economic conditions - into his iron can. I was not sure if he could see my behavior because his eyes were covered by pending and twisted muscles and skin, and I was not sure if his appearance was just a trick and a disguise to cheat passengers so that he could make money from people’s compassion, a commonplace in China that was schemed by tons of criminal groups everywhere in this country, making the public reluctant to donate any cash to any beggars in big cities. Due to many disguised beggars in China, I have not give any money to those beggars in Beijing, because I think most of them can get good care if they want to get assistance from the government, and because the authorities also warned citizens not to donate money to those beggars, who influenced the appearance of a metropolis and the operation of subway. Nonetheless, I sympathized with those who played some instruments much more than those who only stretched their limbs to ask for money. My idea was that at least those who played music were doing something to exchange for money, rather than doing nothing but at the same time hoping to gain compensation.

Summary of MBA Career Seminar

I met zixi, the legendary founder of one well-known community in the Hall of Oriental Plaza when my new friends and I were heading to CKGSB. She was kind of different from what I imagined. I conversed with her prior to the speech given by Professor Huang Ming, who used teach in Stanford and Chicago Business School.

Professor Huang’s speech is convincing. I wrote down some main points from his sharing as the following.

*The goals for a MBA program:

1. Career Switch
2. Networking
3. Knowledge: use a short time to absorb as many study results from managerial scholars, who have devote their whole life on their research, as you can

*The culture in CBS: Competitive
*The culture in Stanford: Teamwork (Suitable for start-up oriented students)

*What matters in essay writing?
Highlight on social activities and leadership and it must be able to move readers.

*Who want to work in investment banks or consulting firms should choose top 5 B-schools; who want to stay in Fortune 500 has not much difference in any B-schools with top 20.

*Is it hard for Chinese students to land a job in the U.S. after graduation? The best profile for a Chinese student who wants to get a job in America could be someone who understands the western managerial culture, and in the meantime has a deep comprehension about China. This type of person might work in the U.S. for one to two years and then be assigned to China as the top management who is in charge of all China affairs.

Agreements Set Down and Some Thoughts about Future

Waiting for phone call from the consultant in a head hunting company the entire daytime, I wasted time doing nothing today. I think I need to breathe some fresh air so I make an appointment with Olive tomorrow to hike in Xiang Shan tomorrow. In the evening on MSN, Jolt caught me and begun discussing our agreements. I, hence, pulled Ethanol into our conversation and reported to both partners about some obstacles so far I encountered. After one hour or so, we come to conclusion and will move on to registration work next week.

These days I cannot help speculating whether I should follow my original plan to pursue my MBA degree from next year, or I should seize the promising job opportunity in the Great China market, probably a more booming economy than the one in the U.S., if I get the job offer later. I was confused today. Can MBA program in U.S. promise my a better career and life than those in China, a limelight all round the world in this century? Am I too stubborn insisting on this switch of locations, industries, and life? I thought of these questions and then one thing loomed on my mind. That is, yes, I will go on to study abroad, no matter I would start my own business later or I would work in Suzhou for that Taiwanese company. My point is neither that how high position in a company I can get in my future, nor that how many fortune I can amass in my life. My point is that I want to keep experiencing different, interesting, multi-culture life in the following decades. There is not much different between my past and my future if I still work in China for the following years. The only breakthrough I can make is for sure to work overseas, a life experience much different from the traveling experiences that I had in Europe. I might later on feel tired, frightened, and helpless later on the road toward this destination. However, I must give it a try or I would never know if it worth or not.

An Unexpected Job Opportunity and the End of the TOEFL Registration Battle

In the late afternoon, a specialist of a head hunting company in Shanghai phoned me and provided me some basic information for some position of a Taiwanese company. At first, I was not really interested in it because the location is in Suzhou, a second-tier city in China where many Taiwan companies amass there. However, the salary is attracting, and I found that the company is promising after checking data about it. This company gained a big amount of investments from two famous venture capitals at the end of last year. Now I am really in a dilemma: Should I do my best to land this job opportunity? Or I'd better follow my original plan to start my own business and study abroad afterwards?

I decided to give it a try for this special job. I replied an e-mail to the specialist to ask her to arrange an interview in Beijing ASAP because the GM of the employer is visiting Beijing currently. I want to go through the entire process as soon as possible so that if I do not match the requirements of the employer, I can go on my previous plan without too much waste of time on this interlude.

By the way, yesterday I spent more than 5 hours registering for TOEFL seats. It was definitely a war that thousands of Chinese people sitting in Internet cafés, offices, dormitories or at home stared at the monitors, cursed the stupid website registration system, complained the Department of Education in China and the ETS in the U.S., and cried for the eventual success or unfortunate failure. Some people decided to register for more than one seat because of the fear of facing this kind of torture again. Many students still failed to get any seats for the exam and thus might lose their opportunities for study overseas.

Release of TOEFL Seats and an Appointment with “Strangers”

At midnight, there were about 8 people talking at the same time on the MSN messenger dialog pane, words flowing as fast as river water. I have not done such an online group talking for a long time. Among these people, I only met Candid once at a GMAT activity in February and both Lettuce and Meteor, two girls that I have not contacted since then. Jubilant is someone who sent me his MSN account several days ago and who I left him some offline greetings in Japanese. The main reason that makes us get together is the unconfirmed news from NEEA about today’s release of ibt-TOEFL exam, whose seats in China is in short supply since the beginning of this year.

After a messy conversations, someone proposed we can have a “FB”, a recurrently coined Internet term which means singing in KTV or dining out with friends with one’s own money, if joining the upcoming speech about MBA career next Sunday noon. I promised to join them because I think I do need more social life and I do want to make more local Chinese friends. Among them, I am very impressed by Jubilant’s multilingual ability, versatility and colorful overseas working and life experiences. Additionally, he is only 24 years now, an age which I still stayed at university! I am convinced that the younger generation of China is very competent and has strong competitive advantage in job markets around the world.

Today's release of ibt-TOEFL seats will certainly cause a war for all Chinese students who plan to study abroad. There is no doubt that the release of this time, 25000 vacancies according to some rumor, could not meet the strong demand from the market. We will see what will happen today.

PS. While I tried to connect to the Internet to post above content, I suddenly found that there was something wrong about the connection. I was very anxiety about this because several hours later I also have to grab a seat for myself. I prompted contacting my ISP and spent about two hours working with them. Fortunately, the problem has solved. I asked the ISP lady about the possible reason for my connection problem. She told me that it might be caused by too many people using the Internet for the moment. Does that imply millions of Chinese are online waiting for the first gun shot to secure a TOEFL exam vacancy now? I can not help suspecting this possibility, because I have never encounter any Internet connection problem since this ISP provide service for me!

The Coincidence Which Makes Us Miss Each Other

The day before yesterday, I did not turn on my cell phone until noon. A few minutes later, a text message appears and reads as “I am visiting Beijing to deal with some business and will leave soon once finishing it. There is not enough time to meet up with each other in such rush trip.” The words was sent by Venus, someone whom I have not thought of for a long time until several days ago Dr. phoned her in front of me, and whom I just fantasized I made love with in the midmorning on that very day.

I got to admit that I still have some special feelings for her. She is the only girl who has really attracted me. Unfortunately, on a special night when she asked me whether I loved her, I hesitated for seconds and kept silence. Soon she came to a conclusion, “you just think that why not accepting all these things in terms of your single status, right?” I do not know what was wrong with me at the moment. Ironically, after our breakup, I did become eager to confess myself to her. But it was late and she rejected my pursuit. I think that sometimes I am just too slow to understand myself and to respond appropriately toward fantastic opportunities.

Once I read her message, I just replied with some short words to express my regret for no time to meet. She then sent another text message to tell me that she used to call me this morning to see if we could have a lunch together but my cell phone disconnected. At the moment, she was already having her meal. I typed words as “It is OK, because we will still meet each other in Wu Tai Mountain.” Actually, I did not really want to meet her on that very day because I am not in good condition. Thus, it might be a good idea to meet next time. Later on, I went to her blog to leave some words for her.

It was coincidental not only that I received her message just after I thought of her on that day, but also that I was not prepared well to meet her on that very day and I unintentionally turned on my cell phone late, resulting in we missed meeting each other. No matter what, I am still looking forward to our reunion.

The Boy Who Sees with Sound

Benjamin Underwood develops a special echolocation system, which usually is used by bats or dolphins, to detect the surroundings around him so that he can get to any destination without a cane, a common tool for blind people. Retinal cancer claimed both his eyes when Ben was three years old. However, he always says, “I am not blind. I just can not see.”

The attitude of his mother is contributing to the extraordinary ability to push the limits of human perception. Ben’s mother always told her son, “Your name is Benjamin Underwood, and you can do anything.” She gave him the confidence and the bravery to challenge the physical deficiency, prompting this exceptional boy to develop his unbelievable echomobility.

I am astonished by the fact that the human being could employ echoes to distinguish the objects and to navigate oneself. This story, again, proves that the mankind has a variety of unknown capability to exploit. If a boy like Benjamin Underwood who has lost his faculty of sight could conquer the all the impediments to learn how to locate himself by echolocation, how could a person like me who is in possession of all faculties give up his or her life goal by any temporary setback or surmountable depression?

Related Article:
The Boy Who Sees with Sound - by PEOPLE Magazine

Taiwanese Literature Reading Club and a Fiction Called “Kill the Husband”

By MSN messenger Mermaid told me that she will get married in September and invited me to join her wedding ceremony in Taiwan. By the same instant communication tool, Cherry told me that in subway train in Taipei she ran into Crimson, who still studies in North Carolina for his politics doctorial degree, and he told her that he was going to visit Beijing next day. I will not return to Taiwan until next Chinese New Year festival, and there is no contact information for me to call Crimson, who I have not seen for many years, to figure out a way to meet up in Beijing. These people are all my old classmates in university, who are the members of Taiwanese Literature Reading Club, an organization that I founded with other four friends in our sophomore year.

Cherry said she have collected all contact information of all members of Taiwanese Literature Reading Club. I, therefore, joked that we should hold once again a reading activity and asked each one to read a book beforehand and to bring the book to join the reunion. This sounds exciting, because I could provide everybody’s speech in our book discussion of many years ago, a reminiscence of the prime of our life.

The time of joining Taiwanese Literature Reading Club is certainly one of my unforgettable and beautiful memories in my life. In addition to getting along with many good friends, I also get inspired by one fiction called “Kill the Husband” (殺夫) written by Li Ang (李昂), a famous Taiwanese writer who has ever been awarded Order of Arts and Letters (Ordre des Arts et des Lettres) by French government. The topic of the book was all about a bad-luck story happened on a wife who had been tortured by his uncouth husband, who made a living as a slaughter. The difficult situation that she confronted with made her eventually choose to kill her husband, a miserable story based on a real social event happened in Shanghai. I learned from this prominent novel that one could always have other choices when facing desperate situations, if one has the courage to forsake what one currently owns and to leave one’s surroundings for a totally brand new place. I think this book somehow affects my life philosophy and a number of decisions in my life afterwards.

An Old Friend's Invitation and the New Friend's Pending Leave

Yesterday, many substantial things happened on me.

First, in the morning I visited Dr. and he gave me a contact info of some Taiwanese in Beijing, who I will write an email to him later, and phoned Venus, who Dr. and I have not seen for a long time, when Dr. and I had our lunch in We Ke Hotel (物科賓館), a place where I had a pleasant conversation with Dr. and Professor Fang, a previous deputy chairman of some Institute of Chinese Academy of Sciences. I was surprised at that Venus still remembered my status and asked me to tell her the result of my examination. At the beginning, she asked me how long I would stay in Shanghai, while the fact is that Dr. came to Beijing so that it was not me travel to Shanghai, but both Dr. and I called her from Beijing at the moment. She invite me to join a possible trip to Wu Tai Mountain (五臺山) in August, an get-together chance which I definitely look forward to.

Second, in the afternoon, Olive told me that he will left Beijing for Paris on July 10 with Henry, who got a internship in an insurance bank in Paris via Olive’s connection, and then stay in Luxemburg about two months before he fly to Boston to complete 2 courses in Harvard Law School, something he has to finish if he want to work for American law firms, instead of European law firms. Besides, he needs to take an exam in America so that he can qualify to work in China for those American companies. He has to get a loan for his short-term study in Harvard. I was sad to know that he might leave Beijing for about half year, because he is my best friend here in China.

Third, in the evening, the score was revealed and it was not ideal for me. Fortunately, I was able to book another seat right away next Saturday in this difficult situation. Thanks all kinds of Gods and all my ancestors! I have to seize each opportunity no matter what happened.

To Save a Stranger, Will You Lie between Rails Letting the Train Running Trough You?

What is the feeling of lying on the roadbed between rails while a 370-ton subway train roared over above your body? Wesley Autrey, a 50 years old African-American, just experienced this kind of formidable moment. What is his motivation? Well, it is to save a stranger, who fell down from the platform because of unexpected seizure.

I am not only shocked by the incredible plot of this real-life story and the courage of the savior, but also moved by the fact that in this world, there is still somebody willing to risk his own life to rescue the life of a stranger. Many times, when I was standing on the platform waiting for subway train, I used to fantasize lying on the depression between the rails when a train was passing through the station, wondering the possibility of being alive after doing so. This is only a passing whim derived from boredom while waiting for my train. However, I have never thought of that this action could have really happened in the reality on January 2 of this year.

The most impressive moment for me was that the two young daughters were screaming- “My daddy! My daddy! - when the train monster swallowed their father and that stranger. I could sympathize the fright of the little girls at the very emergent moment. What if their father died in front of them? Then that day could become a haunting nightmare in the rest of their life. Fortunately, this supposition did not become a truth.

Life is a miracle. Everybody should cherish each moment of his or her life. On the other hand, to give others a hand when one could is a virtue that might be an old-fashioned one, but should last forever.

Related Report:

• Man Is Rescued by Stranger on Subway Tracks
  
• The Time 100 - Heros and Pioneers

Naming for a Company and the Current Process

Beijing Botanical Garden
Originally uploaded by taigerwan.

“Sony” is a good name because it is easy to pronounce and memorized. “Acer” is also good one. By contrast, “ASUS” is not perfect, because people do not know how to pronounce the “U” here.

Naming for our company is such a substantial task that could affect the result of brand marketing. Till this afternoon, I have proposed 3 choices for my partners, but one of my partner, who is a mainlander, seems prefer the one that my Taiwanese partner and I have already gave up. The possible reason might be that our preferred choice has a Chinese name that consists of the middle word of my Taiwanese partner’s name and that of my name. If I were him, I would certainly feel uncomfortable. Nonetheless, I do think our preferred choice has the very ideal English name for our start-up. Hence, I replace the word which is the same as the middle word of my name with another rare word, which has a similar pronunciation as the English name.

I hope that all partners could agree with my fourth proposition.

So far, I have make sure the list of investors and the capital that each of them will offer. My original plan is to register the start-ups this week. The Chinese investor, however, seems to prefer to sign some agreements first. This requirement is reasonable, but I do need more time to produce the draft version of these legal documents.

I am eager to register the companies as soon as possible, because the process to do so might take about one month to accomplish. Besides, I can do nothing before the setup of the new companies for those potential projects, such as the projects of patent and software products. We have to grab these business opportunities to develop our companies. The current moment is also a good timing for us, but not the 4 quarter, which is usually a low season in software localization industry.

Several Observations about CKGSB MBA Program

This afternoon, I joined the information session about CKGSB MBA program in Oriental Plaza, a complex where the richest Asian Li Ka-shing invested in. Generally speaking, I got a fair impression on today's arrangement. Here come some observations and comments on this school:

First, CKGSB, which is founded in 2002 by the Li Ka-shing Foundation, is very ambitious to set its goal as a top 10 business school in 10 years, although it is so young. Indeed, this announce could be just a propagandistic strategy to attract talented students. However, it is also true that this mission impossible could be achieved only in China, if there is a possibility for any new business school to attain this kind of astonished achievement. The reason is, of course, that China is the focus around the world and that the booming economy of China can fuel any brave valiant attempt.

Second, to complete a mission impossible, CKGSB has to take some unconventional and unusual actions to solicit more excellent students. A very different approach in CKGSB MBA program is that applicants are allowed to have interview first, and then, if passed the interview, get a so-called “conditional offer”, which means the applicants afterwards need to take GMAT and to achieve the minimum requirement for GMAT score, so that CKGSB would issue the official admission offers for them. Above-mentioned practice is different from the usual procedure of most B-schools, which require the GMAT score before the decision to give any interview. The purpose of CKGSB, I believe, is to attract some outstanding applicants who have problems to take GMAT earlier.

Third, CKGSB holds several GMAT reading clubs, or studying groups, in order to assist all MBA applicants to share mutual experiences and then get as high as possible score at the exam. It also invites some teachers in New Oriental School, a well-known cram school which has listed in the American stock market, to instruct these club members. It is wise to do so because this activity enhance more opportunities for CKGSB to reach those exceptional applicants, and these applicants can also become familiar with this school in the process of studying in this kind of organization.

Forth, CKGSB knows how to attract eyeballs and how to prompt its information session. It organizes a professor’s speech prior to the introduction of admission officer. Today's topic is “Brand Position of Tsingtao beer”, which can lure many attendees for sure.

http://www.ckgsb.edu.cn/