The BBC box hits China

Money's what makes the world go round...So, the BBC is following a cargo container around world for a year to tell stories of globalisation and the world economy. For the first journey the box traveled more than 10,000 nautical miles - from Greenock, Scotland, via Southampton and along the Suez Canal, Egypt and Singapore. Watch the BBC news report here.

The BBC box arrived on Wednesday at the Yangshan port in China, one of the biggest on the planet (and so busy it's getting an artificial island in the East China Sea for its newest container terminal). Inside the box was 15,000 bottles of 12-year-old Chivas Scotch (from, um, Scotland) destined for the bars of Shanghai.

5mins to spare Watch this Google Map of the cargo's journey.

U.S. slow down But, cargo shipping has suddenly become a lot cheaper as U.S. demand for goods has slackened so ships are sailing back half full (sending the box back to Southampton will cost a third less than last year). Wait a minute - don't you think we should begin to live in a more "macrobiotic-friendly" way - i.e. consume more local stuff, or at least stuff less traveled. It'll definitely be more expensive in the short-term but it's the only way forward.

Here's a crazy example of what's happening. Most Alaskan salmon is caught, quickly frozen and then *shipped to China* for preparation (fileting, boning etc.) before being shipped back to the U.S.!? Do you think that's excessive?

No holding back With up to 250 million middle-class Chinese consumers waiting their turn to join the consumer bandwagon simple things like Marks & Spencer's digestive biscuits are in demand. "Prices in Marks and Spencer are fine for me - considering quality," says one male shopper. "But I am more careful with my spending these days. Our earnings just aren't as stable as they used to be when the economy had double digit growth."

China stands strong Here's an amazing factoid. Even though there's a worldwide slowdown predictions are that China's burgeoning middle-class can help China maintain strong growth. "If the economy is growing well globally then China can grow at 12%, if it boosts consumption, but if the rest of the world is not doing so well, they can still grow at 9%, which ain't bad," says Access Asia's Paul French.

China's factories are closing

Unemployment is becoming a Chinese issue

During the McCain presidential campaign we've heard about all the money that the Middle-East is hoarding due to America's oil dependence and how the US owes the China trillions of dollars.

That's one side of the story and both those countries are in the black, rather than the red. But it's not all rosy. In China, where I never really thought people would ever be unemployed, the US-based, but global recession is starting to bite.

Fo' real, or not fo' real?

I love new gadgets, but there's never a "right time" to buy. Now it seems, you may not even be buying the real thing?!

Nokia's latest mobile phones have appeared on eBay this week. The N96 (US$500+) and Sapphire Arte (US$1,000) mobile phone handsets are being listed for "way below the market price." Uh, an obvious hint that they're fake?!



Surprising to me is the role Dubai plays in the trade of bogus goods. It seems that the UAE is a known hub for traffiking goods from China to the West. Known as the "dragon market" it's described as "the biggest trading port for Chinese traders outside China."

Nokia UK's managing director, Simon Ainslie, told Mobile magazine, "We take [counterfeit products] very seriously. Copied phones still exist and our intellectual property team are always investigating them."

Here is a blatant advert for a website that supplies the bogus gadgets.



Helpful links
How to detect fake Nokias

Made in China...no thanks?

Wandering around Ranch 99 or 99 Cent Stores as I do occasionally, who can't help wonder what's safe to eat as nearly 13,000 children in China have been poisoned by tainted milk powder! This tragic story of greed and poor production oversight has cost four babies' lives so far!

There have been very few cases of illness outside of China. That the Chinese companies would do this to its own people is horrific. As expected, many countries have banned Chinese dairy imports following the scandal. Thankfully, Chinese police have arrested 18 people in connection with the scandal and customers are able to return the possibly tainted milk powder brands purchased at a supermarket in Hefei, Anhui province in September.



Incredible It's reported that the tainted milk contained melamine, a banned chemical normally used in plastics. When added to milk powder it appears to have higher protein and was used in products made by 22 companies!?

Made in China No longer simply a guarantee of low-price, "Made in China" is now feared. With the recent toy and food scares we've witnessed, the world has to be selective about what it buys. The old addage "quality, not quantity" is so apt in today's society of consumerism. May be that conscientiousness will trickle into other world issues like pollution and ecological matters too. That's the only way up.

iPhone...Made in China

Hottest gadget + Hottest country = Prosperity

On the most southern tip of China, just across the border from Hong Kong is the Hon Hai Precision Industry Co. (Ticker: TEF). That typically dull industrial name hides that fact that the company is one of the world's leading electronics manufacturers and a key partner to many household names like Apple, Motorola, Nintendo and Sony Playstation.

$40 billion and growing...

What can be said about this Taiwanese company that has grown revenues by over 50% a year for the past decade to $40.6 billion revenues in 2006 alone? Billion! Imagine that kind of money...that's close the price that Cingular paid to acquire AT&T Wireless back in 2005! (Or to put it another way, Hon Hai is expected to add another $14 billion in revenues this year...the same as the entire sales of CBS Corp.!!)

Expand your share of the Value Chain

How has Hon Hai managed to grow (and keep growing) at such a rate when its rivals have struggled to manage overcapacity? I mean, Hon Hai is larger than its 10 closest competitors combined?! By leveraging the fact that it can produce many of the components that are used in its clients' products and therefore create off-shored sub-assembly production lines that are far more efficient than those of its clients. This encompasses a whole heap of manufacturing and production management acronyms like CEM, EMS, ODM and CMMS.

Dell case-study

Back in 1995, when Michael Dell first met Gou, Dell and other PC manufacturers bought the components and assembled them in their own factories. That is, until Gou built a production line that allowed Hon Hai itself to do this - everything from making the PC steel cases to building the completed PCs - thereby reducing overall costs without reducing profit margins.

Also, it doesn't hurt to have a firm grasp of expenses either. One Hon Hai executive joked that the founder, Terry Gou, is "worth $2 billion in nickels and dimes". Although today, that number has grown...Gou is personally worth about $10 billion!

Where next?

The phenomenal Taiwan/China growth story has been achieved by taking this strategy horizontally across other Computer, Communication and Consumer-electronics industries like digital cameras and LCD panels.

So where's the next growth area for this Taiwan/China partnership? Expect a 'Made in China' label on the next-generation of medical equipment soon.

7-foot something...Chinese are taller than Americans

What's in the food?

Wow, what are they feeding the kids in China? Yao Ming is the 7-foot 2-inches (2.26 metres) tall NBA star for the Houston Rockets. He's been in the news this month as he's marrying his sweet heart, another basketball player from China, who comes in at 6-foot 2-inches tall (1.9 metres)!

Ok, these two aren't your average rice-yammin' Chinese citizens, but NPR noted that the Chinese are gaining height, whilst the Americans are stuck at an average 5-foot 9-inches! And we all know the advantages that tall folk have over the height-challenged...

It's gotta stop

It's was interesting to read that, even though Yao Ming is fairly traditional (he got married back at home and close to his fiance's hometown), he is trying to bring attention to something that has been worrying me...The demand for exotic animal parts for Chinese cuisine due to folklore or superstitious beliefs.

The NBA Houston Rockets centre has been active in environmental protection and last year Yao Ming pledged to stop eating shark's fin soup which is considered a Chinese delicacy. The shark's fin is the only part that is valuable ($300+/lb) so fisherman just slice off the fin and dump the shark back to drown in the sea - a practice called 'finning'.

Ironically, this dish would've certainly been on the wedding banquet menu as it's a sign of wealth and prestige. By speaking up, Yao Ming has raised the awareness of the cruel and senseless practice within and outside of China.

Avril goes to China

Avril learns Mandarin

China Radio International is the only station broadcasting from Shanghai in English I believe. That's where I found some news about Canadian pop punk queen, Avril Lavigne, arriving in Shanghai to play her first solo Chinese gig.

It's a smart move on her part considering some say a larger proportion of money is made from concerts etc. than record sales now. Let's assume only a very small percentage will legitimately buy Lavigne's tunes in China, but anciliary revenues from the world's largest market could be huge(r).

Has anyone seen a blonde girl with an entourage...?!

The Shanghai Youth Daily said that: "the punk singer arrived at the city secretly, and that even the local media and hard-core fans at the airport failed to see her."

Don't make me laugh. Oh, and which local media took the pics?! Come on - unless a moody white rock chick being chaperoned by some burley white and black body guards is a normal occurance in Shanghai's Pudong International airport I think Lavigne would've stuck out like a sore thumb!

Avril in Mandarin?!

AOL Video is hosting some video clips of the concert. I didn't watch, but may be it includes her Mandarin version of "Girl Friend". If not, here it is below...hey where can I buy the bootlegged concert VCD/DVD...?! Hahaha.



Loving this



Avril in Cantonese