Wiring China: Go East Young Man
Sheff, David
"Wiring China: Go East Young Man" DAVID SHEFF In early August 2000, Bo Feng calls my Beijing hotel room in the morning sounding like a man who hasn't slept in a fortnight. When I ask...
...They sure don't talk about the weather in Bo's family...
...A man below us works on bicycles at a bicycle-mending stand...
...The problem in China, far more than in the United States, is that managers are at a premium...
...John isn't complaining, but he reflects that this down-and-dirty operation is a far cry from his last job with Merrill Lynch in New York City...
...Literally...
...After throwing on his jacket, Edward, looking dignified in his dark suit and speaking fluidly and powerfully, addresses the staff, explaining the historic accomplishment...
...This ceremony is the result of a dinner that was instigated by Bo Feng a month earlier...
...In fact, commercial research, viewed as antithetical to the mission of the institute, was looked at with some disdain...
...I have an appointment...
...Hence: "We will do whatever we have to get these guys profitable...
...It's the most tedious part of the job," he says...
...Edward sits in front of the laptop...
...We're here, waiting for anyone who is excellent...
...People who could afford only a bicycle are now buying a TV or washing machine.Within a generation, some will be able to buy a car and maybe their own housing...
...A baby conceived in theYear of the Dragon and born in theYear of the Dragon is very lucky-a double dragon...
...Meanwhile, Liu studied the management of IT companies in Japan and the United States...
...The initial investments of $5 million by each shareholder company are worth nearly $500 million.The ministries and government agencies are losing money...
...They haven't gotten the fact that the free lunch period is over," says John...
...He says that he even has to buy and then hide soap and paper towels for the shared rest room in the loftlike building...
...Six hours later, in the early morning, we eat a crunchy youtiao on the run...
...Child labor...
...I don't see what you offer that's different for a company the size of CNC...
...However, I watch how Bo deals with the intolerable physical limitations when they arise...
...In addition, Sina.com will become the major online distributor of CNC's IP phone card and telephony offerings...
...The pull is always to try to save companies in trouble, butVCs must work hard to make their good companies even stronger...
...He repeats, "It's cheaper...
...CNC is bringing innovation to the telecom world...
...As we leave, Bo says, "Let's talk at least weekly...
...Who are you visiting next week...
...We skip through the crowded downstairs, with tables set with white linen and fishbowl wine goblets, and climb up a set of stairs to the cigar lounge in the attic.We sit on plush leather couches behind a rickety Tibetan table...
...Qianlong wrote back and said that the English could send people to China to learn from us, but as for the other way around: `No thanks.' What was there to learn...
...In less than a year, CNC has increased its valuation a hundred times," he says...
...Legend Computer was an unlikely offshoot of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in 1984...
...The first is at the Jinmao, which pierces the sky like a scalpel...
...Look at that...
...He says that the companies will have a long and prosperous relationship...
...It repeats what John just said...
...He shakes off his exhaustion...
...If you can't handle the compression, you explode...
...Together, we can continue to build the world's most vital Internet on the planet...
...Legend's cheap but well-designed and reliable PCs soon became the company's core business...
...On his way out, I congratulate Zhidong about his and his wife Liu Bing's twins, which are due early next year...
...As long as you don't go out of bounds, you'll be a player.You're doing exactly what you need to do...
...To do anything other than work for change in this way is irresponsible, letting down the people who will benefit from an open, successful China...
...I ask what he thinks of those in America who would deprive China of admittance into the WTO and who each year attack China in Washington's mostfavored-nation debate...
...We could breeze through on Shanghai's new subway that connects both sides of the Huangpu, but Bo has never considered taking it...
...It's about the IP 800 project-the one that allows companies immediately to call back people who visit their Web site and indicate an interest in their products or services...
...Let's get to work...
...Edward can't resist adding, "The summer holiday is coming and China Telecom heads are taking a two-week vacation with their families...
...Of course, we can also learn from your mistakes...
...After that, he meets the director of a CNC data center with whom he is discussing the Web-hosting operation...
...It's a cycle that continues to strengthen the country...
...Charts on the computer screen indicate how E Manager could save CNC time and reduce costs by automating the order procurement and integrating the system with manufacturers, distributors and logistics...
...Bo makes a pitch for CNC...
...The efforts of the Chinese entrepreneurs are propelling China forward...
...At the Legend office, we sit at a conference table...
...I wish Tiger (Bo's 2-year-old son back in San Francisco) could see this...
...The Internet is transforming the nation...
...Xu is apparently racing as quickly as possible in horrendous traffic.We finally see him corning careening toward us, full steam, the horn blasting, his head poking out of the window so that he can be heard shouting at pedestrians to move out of the way...
...Make it something you're proud of...
...Beyond is the upturned golden roof of the Hall of Supreme Harmony...
...There are handsome, wood-framed table lamps with fat oval shades...
...Zhijun smiles...
...That's what we never had...
...This shows why we are better," he says, indicating a new slide...
...There's a similar problem hiring engineers...
...Religious repression...
...It goes all night, so in the morning, when we meet again, Bo is bleary eyed...
...Eventually, a middle class emerges...
...Bo once again is exhausted, and it seems as if he'll finally turn in early and call it a night...
...More meetings...
...John explains that Oval's system, simpler and cheaper, is Javabased and runs not on a PC, but on the Web...
...Liu Chuanzhi was charged with creating a for-profit spin-off of the CAS...
...The only way for us to get traction is to help our companies get traction...
...Access...
...Edward leaves the befuddled man behind...
...Indeed, the besttrained managers still come from the United States...
...I never wanted to be a politician...
...Reprinted with permission...
...Americans' motivation may be laudable, but their tactics sometimes leave something to be desired...
...By mid-2000, Legend had a growing 30 percent of the market share of all PC sales in China...
...A sallow moon is sinking behind the moss-covered wall...
...It means that the ones who sign on are intensely committed...
...In spite of their lack of training, young Chinese programmers are being lured by companies that can offer relatively high salaries and a range of benefits...
...The gap is startling...
...Instead, let us evolve...
...Sina.com is a sprawling global Chinese-language Web portal...
...But unlike many of the 40,000 liu xue sheng (literally "study abroad students") who took their U.S...
...green cards and never looked back, Bo has returned to China as that most exotic of Silicon Valley exports: a venture capitalist...
...Enlightenment can flow through the taps like water...
...When Bo tells Edward about Liu Chuanzhi's interest in CNC, his mood changes...
...He waves us in...
...It sounds as if it worked...
...He wears thick, oversized tortoiseshell glasses...
...However, the WTO is motivating the nation to rework the inefficiencies as quickly as possible...
...It means, "It's like adding wings to a tiger...
...Regulations are crazy," John says...
...It's all I can do...
...When I ask about it, he admits that it was an all-nighter again, this time with a bunch of bankers who are in town for a conference...
...Openness and exchange of ideas come with it...
...Managing Legend, he tried to apply what he viewed as the best of both systems-the family concept in Japanese companies and the American system that encouraged individual thinking...
...There's not even time for coffee, though...
...How beautiful...
...After small talk, Liu tells me that when he founded Legend with 11 computer scientists and a meager budget, he expected to fail...
...Think of CNC frst.We will think of Sina first...
...After tucking Zhijun into a cab, Bo says, "The older I get, the more I realize that he's in me and I'm in him.A son cannot help but carry his father everywhere he goes...
...All sorts of ISPs, private networks for companies, city infoportseverything will be changing...
...Particularly when he says that his company's success will be measured by how much it weakens China Telecom, the worst example of China's state-owned enterprises...
...46 THE AMERICAN SPECTATOR . MAY/JUNE 2002 are the next step...
...It's counterintuitive, since every day at a troubled company is a crisis and you feel like you have to do something, quick...
...he asks founders...
...Like Bo, Zhijun recites poetry and seems always ready with an appropriate quotation, drawing from Mao Zedong, the president of the United States, Confucius or The New York Times...
...The large courtyard building must have been the residence of a rich and noble family...
...At Legend, we learned that we could convert technology into money...
...Since you stole my CEO, you owe me your help on this," John says, referring to Chengwei's hiring ofYangdong Shao, Oval's co-founderand a U.S.-trained veteran of Salomon Brothers and Intel-to be a junior partner in theVC firm...
...The Oval E Manager would help CNC with our suite ofWeb-based products that enhances and extends the traditional operation of a company," John begins...
...A single button connects the computer to the Internet and loads a browser...
...We need to, too...
...We taxi to China Netcom Corporation's headquarters, where preparations are under way for the company's first birthday party...
...I explain, "China seems unwilling to discuss some important issues...
...These men of the new Chinese revolution are navigating in uncharted waters, where two contradictory systems meet to create a third system that is neither Western nor traditionally Chinese.What rules there are in China are made up along the way and business, politics and cultures collide on a daily basis...
...We say goodbye to Edward after planning a meeting in San Francisco...
...He trails off...
...In my mind it always has been your company, but now you are legal owners...
...The initial partnership includes a deal that has CNC hosting Sina's coverage of the Summer Olympic Games to be held in Sydney in September...
...It's a presentation geared for youthful revolutionaries who are committed to rocking the status quo...
...The same people responsible for Legend eventually were ardent supporters of Edward Tian's CNC...
...start-up...
...We blast up the elevator to the Hyatt lobby on the 53rd floor of the 88-story building and run to the restaurant, where an entrepreneur is waiting...
...CNC, China's leading independent Internet company, is building the country's most advanced fiberoptic telecommunications network...
...He thanks Bo for initiating the conversation and promises to follow up...
...John says, "China has a long way to go before it's as easy to do business here as in the U.S., and at the same time we have to compete with the US...
...Bo talks for the first time about how demoralized Zhijun was after Tiananmen Square...
...We have a good start in the increasingly prosperous cities, but most Chinese are still poor and without opportunities...
...I know that you will be better prepared...
...It's impressive every time I arrive here...
...Physically...
...A taxi drops Bo and me off at the China Club, a restaurant in the palace of the 47th son of the Emperor Konshin, built 400 years ago...
...It makes way for another spectacular sunset, with flame-colored bolts streaking the sky, a stunning backdrop to the gray bricks and faded red of the emperor's palace walls...
...Rou hu tiara fei," he says, quoting another gnomic saying...
...The sky is extraordinarily clear and pale blue...
...Edward quietly interrupts...
...It caused him to question "the meaning of my existence as a human being," he says...
...Zhidong, who is wearing his usual collared work shirt with the Sina logo, reports in on the latest developments at Sina, and ends the ceremony with a pitch for "a long and nurturing" partnership "based on our mutual respect for one another...
...It makes them very nervous...
...The day progresses and melts into evening...
...Bo and Zhijun hold hands as they walk out of the restaurant...
...Whether you are presenting to me or anyone else, you must anticipate, `What is in the customer's mind?' Before you arrive, you must contemplate, `What is lie thinking?' Companies like CNC have a huge internal tech team that can distinguish what is different about your software...
...The computer has a second hidden business model...
...Nothing is said...
...There is an enormous array of business offerings in the works, from an ATM network to high-end virtual private network tunnels for businesses to hook onto the Net...
...Bo was a Chinese exchange student in northern California at the time of the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre...
...Function, reliability and scalability are far more important...
...This Chinese revolution, Bo maintains, in spite of setbacks and formidable opposition, is cautious, scalable and socially and economically responsible...
...As he hands the meeting over to an HR manager, an assistant tells Edward that the heads of Sina.com have arrived for a signing ceremony...
...Without telling us who he's talking to, he begins a tirade of complaints about the time it takes to manage his board...
...Who have you visited this week...
...Bo promises to help do some recruiting and says, "Things will change once the market downturn sinks in...
...At the academy and throughout China, the only scientists who would go into commercial ventures were inferior," Liu says...
...The tough part, Edward says, is that the people he deals with "grew up in central planning mentality...
...John, who is clearly nervous, indicates the first slide of the PowerPoint presentation on the screen...
...Since the Cultural Revolution, there have been attempts to change China that failed...
...One bullet point promises a "more efficient operation...
...The side of the conversation we hear is tense...
...There are plans for an array of new services for its users, including PC-tophone service and video feeds of live events, as well as basic broadband ISP and VPN services...
...It's work he never imagined himself doing...
...says Edward Tian...
...Both highways-literally, the roadways, as well as the information superhighway-are simultaneously being constructed...
...All the rushing and we're stuck in traffic again, this time under the tunnel that leads to Pudong...
...Zhijun, a former engineering professor, prolific author and dabbler in liberal politics (he is currently the representative for the Ningxia Province in the Standing Committee of the People's Congress), speaks as if there is a much larger audience-as if we are in the hall at the People's Congress...
...Pitch a tent, don't ask about pay...
...He says that U.S.-trained engineers are at a premium and have unrealistic expectations of the market...
...Bo promises to help John establish a relationship with a. banker who can make it easier for Oval to have access to its own cash...
...Since the budget couldn't sustain the company, Liu's first task was to figure out a source of income, so the new company began distributing foreign computers by AST and IBM...
...With satisfaction, Zheng notes that stateowned China Telecom tried to develop a similar system, but failed...
...The problem in part is a reflection of John's wise decision to avoid trying to replicate a highfalutin U.S...
...After dinner, we continue talking in the breezy China Club courtyard, where Zhijun tells a story...
...Bo's here, too, accompanied by John Sunn, an Americanborn entrepreneur who runs a Shanghaibased business software company, Oval...
...It and the other points are so general that John is quickly losing Edward...
...Edward is gone, and Bo still hasn't said a word...
...Outside, en route to the next session, Bo says, "We have to remind ourselves to give time to Oval and the other strong companies...
...He whispers to me, "John is in awe of Edward...
...Technology and the inherent economic development from it Excerpted from China Dawn by David Shelf...
...I try to make them feel as if they are part of what we are doing, but sometimes...
...Zhidong and Edward exchange a long and hearty double handshake...
...There MAY/JUNE 2002 • THE AMERICAN SPECTATOR 47 is a back order of 80,000 units a month...
...I would be very happy to work with him," says Edward...
...We are meeting Bo's father, Feng Zhijun, who waits for us at a round table in a serene dining room, near a wall scroll with a scene of a rushing river and a bamboo grove...
...For us, sales and marketing is a bottleneck, not software...
...When we hit central Shanghai, Bo leaves me on the Bund and heads out into the night with Baojun and another friend for a mahjongg game...
...When he hangs up, he slams the phone and shakes his head...
...Is it fast enough% We don't know Resistance is destructive, which is why I worry about the slow education process...
...He touches his arms and face.When Zhijun speaks, I learn where Bo gets his passion for language and metaphor...
...He'll never again be unprepared...
...Before dashing off again, he says, "Next time I see you, have answers to my questions...
...Bo signals a taxi and we're off again...
...Next, Bo dashes off to meet with the founder of a company called iTom, a start-up that is making good money designing dynamic websites for an impressive list of clients, including Sony and Nippon Paint...
...For now, the big challenge with every start-up in China is keeping your ball on the fairway...
...He winks...
...Emerging from 15 years of solitary confinement in a Chinese jail, the famous dissident Wei Jingsheng once said, "People long for change, but they despair of it, so they go into business...
...There's another meeting with yet another Chengwei company scheduled for 10 p.m., but I suggest that he postpone it until tomorrow...
...Slowly surveying the room for maximum effect, he says, "Meanwhile, we will dig up another 300 miles, connecting another city to our network...
...Ironically, ownership of companies by their workers is a Communist principle that was one of the first abandoned ideals...
...That will change province by province, city by city, village by village...
...Freedom of speech...
...In addition, he has a list of some potential Oval customers and promises to set up meetings...
...44 THE AMERICAN SPECTATOR . MAY/JUNE 2002 backers from the powerful Chinese Academy of Sciences-one of whom, a respected engineer and influential technology leader, happens to be the son of China's President Jiang Zernin-helped push the options plan through, albeit almost a year later than prolnised.And it does indeed turn out to be precedent-setting...
...The carp is leaping through the Dragon's Gate," he says...
...His joy is obvious, but he is only half kidding when he groans, "Two babies...
...He says that he does his best to follow Feng Zhijun's advice...
...At Stanford we had to do 12,000 a month...
...Zhijun says, "Nothing has opened China more than the open market...
...Otherwise, someone always steals it...
...Where are your customers...
...Next, I sit in when Edward meets with a representative of the Chinese Construction Bank, CNC's partner in an IP calling card that offers personalized calling plans tailor-made for individuals who frequently call specific phone numbers, time zones, regions in China or foreign countries...
...John wants to talk to Bo about the problem he is having hiring talented people, particularly managers and engineers...
...Its CEO, Wang Zhidong-often described as China's combination Jerry Yang (co-founder of Yahoo) and Bill Gates is waiting with some of his senior staff in a rarely used office for visiting board members, with a beautiful Ming desk and kaug and framed armchairs...
...The idea is a transfiguring force that is so powerful as to be almost mythic...
...Things have changed...
...He contributes what he can, but he would have been a great progressive leader if he had not been marginalized...
...Bo rubs Zhijun's back throughout much of the dinner...
...John finally looks toward Bo and says,"It was a disaster...
...Though the board originally agreed that there could be an employee stock option plan, it has been complicated to implement in a government-backed venture...
...People will be looking for solid companies and good managers...
...MAYIJUNE 2002 • THE AMERICAN SPECTATOR 49...
...I can't wait until he is old enough to understand this history, this time in history, this life we are living...
...As Legend became profitable selling foreign-made PCs, his engineers designed their own computers...
...That view began to change with Deng Xiaoping's reforms...
...At CNC, managing the shareholders is first...
...We're planning it meticulously," Zhijun says...
...John tries to think of something new to say, but Edward's patience is waning...
...Its founder and CEO, Edward Tian, whose suit jacket is hanging on the back of his chair and whose shirt sleeves are tightly rolled up above his elbows, is busy overseeing a meeting...
...A rattling Beijing cab takes us to the Courtyard, a restaurant and bar off a cobblestone street lit by a weak yellow streetlight alongside the Forbidden City...
...We leave Legend for CNC to tell Edward.When we arrive and peek into his office, Edward is on the phone...
...An isolated China has no motivation to change-in the ways that we decide we want to change...
...In addition, it successfully built high-powered but low-priced Intel processor clones...
...Bo expresses this repeatedly...
...The humbled CEO is ready to leave when Edward peeks back into his office...
...Indeed, whether discussing literature, history, art or green tea, Zhijun is articulate and opinionated...
...Bo has a crazy schedule of follow-up meetings with entrepreneurs set for every couple hours throughout the day...
...In the past we only knew how to convert money into technology," Liu says...
...He wanted to buy a router for $3,000, but he had to get approval in order to withdraw the money from a bank...
...Through small windows, we can see the moat filled with murky water that laps the Forbidden City's stone wall...
...Next is strategy and execution and the company's culture...
...As a result, China herself will leap through the Dragon's Gate and become something new...
...Bo still doesn't say anything as John packs up his computer and briefcase...
...He indicates that managers of both companies are exploring new ventures, including Sina Net chats using voice instead of typing...
...He drops me off at my hotel and goes to his meeting...
...My country is simultaneously going through what America went through in the 1900s and in the 1990s-industrializing, building an infrastructure, and at the same time, racing into the world economy based on communication and technology," Bo says, explaining the sense of urgency...
...Zhidong and his crew duck out, and Edward returns to his office...
...So your pitch must be refined for us, I'm sure you'll do better next time...
...YIIRINGCHI B Y GO EAST, YOUNG MAN D A V I D S H E F F n early August 2000, Bo Feng calls my Beijing hotel room in the morning sounding like a man who hasn't slept in a fortnight...
...Americans care deeply about these issues...
...The capital from supplying that market will increasingly go to R&D and new developments...
...In the lounge, Bo finally sleeps...
...Uncharacteristically, Edward seems ready to blow up...
...It connects new users directly to Legend's portal, fm365.com, which is a popular site in China...
...Successful companies will spin off new entrepreneurial ventures.The pervading technology not only raises the standard of living, but contains inherent changes to culture and society...
...I must change my face for these people, and I don't like what that feels like...
...To hire students fresh from Harvard, Stanford or other M.B.A...
...Now he's crushed...
...Nonetheless, as he leaves the room and skips down the hallway, there is a sort of spring in his step...
...Published by HarperBusiness, 2002...
...Still they question my loyalty...
...It's your company," he says...
...Bo says, "With the Internet, we are adding wings to a tiger...
...I try to understand their agenda...
...There will be more of a market, and that will encourage more innovation and competition as Chinese buy-by 2003-60 million cell phones, 100 million TVs and 50 million new computers each year...
...Meanwhile, the Oval founders still aren't taking salaries...
...It's like oxygen, so the Chinese businesses can grow" Overstuffing the central CNC office, spilling out into doorways and hallways, there's now an all-hands meeting of employees...
...It's an important point...
...He explains,"They come in and don't know how little they know The best graduates from Chinese universities come in boasting that they have coded 5,000 lines of Java in a single year...
...Bo recasts the idea...
...Emperor Qianlong in 1793 received a letter from King George III...
...Circle chairs made of huanghuali wood are set in the room's four corners, and the center court has a "well to heaven," or skylight garden...
...The A6 screeches to a stop in front of us and we pile in...
...Without a choice, however, he tried...
...Bo's fund, Chengwei, backed Edward Tian-another former liu xue sheng, from Texas-in his first Chinese startup, Asialnfo, the country's first Internet service provider...
...He's in a rush because of an important meeting across town...
...The academy had been devoted to researching the most advanced technology in the world, but there was no consideration of commercialization...
...He is a great man...
...The car speeds across Beijing to Legend Computer's headquarters, where Bo is expected by Liu Chuanzhi, the CEO and chairman...
...Information...
...Edward's eyes meet Bo's...
...In his early 60s, he is powerfully built with a wide carriage, bent slightly over...
...if this was the direction his government required, "life was false...
...Twins make it a double double dragon...
...Coming from Manhattan, John was unprepared for another problem that plagues the entrepreneurs in China...
...A line of Laughing Buddhas size us up from a high shelf...
...Human rights...
...However, Liu Chuanzhi has surpassed them all...
...With only 200,000 RMB (about $25,000) from the chief of the Institute of Computer Technology, a division of CAS, he set out to create a personal computer company that could compete with the foreign brands that had begun to be imported into China...
...The Legend story is a great inspiration to other Chinese technology companies...
...Jeffrey Jiang, an analyst with Bo's Chengwei venture group, takes notes...
...Bo and I taxi to Beijing Airport, where we are faced with a two-hour delay before our flight to Shanghai...
...After the announcement of the CNC deal, Legend Computer, by then the number-one computer maker in Asia, becomes the second Chinese government-owned company to offer a stock option plan for its employees...
...Liu, who is thin and has an angular face, sits near his assistant, who wears pink and has a Barbie watch...
...Indeed, there have been attempts by some shareholders to rescind the promise...
...Bo calls Xu Bing, his driver, for the fourth time...
...Along one side is the Long March Bar, resplendent with lacquered mahogany...
...Now China must learn from the Westgood business management and the ability to think freely in order to make the best decisions...
...After a cup of wine, we leave the old place under a milky night sky...
...He felt that a commercial venture was counter to his training and beliefs...
...John weeds out many potential recruits when he tells them, "Come aboard if you're here for the long haul because you want to create a great company...
...When I ask Zhijun his position on China's entry into the World Trade Organization, he says that he supports it wholeheartedly, for social as well as economic reasons...
...We help manage inventory and reduce product returns," he says...
...and shakes his head...
...Nearby, Bo thanks Edward for agreeing to listen to John's pitch...
...To shut the door on economic change is to turn your back on one billion Chinese...
...he seems strangely calm...
...Bo, Edward and the others have turned to business, but not because they despaired of change...
...Bo encouraged the meeting with Zhidong, in hopes of forging an alliance between CNC and Sina...
...The problem, he continues, is that "we're dealing in compressed time...
...Zhijun, with a thick shock of graying hair swept back, wears black: a black shirt with a traditional indigo tunic and a Western suit jacket and pants...
...Zhijun presents me with a copy of his new book, a treatise about developing the western territories of China now that the coastal cities in the east are beginning to thrive...
...In the conference room, Liu shows off the latest Legend product, an Internet PC...
...During his introductory PowerPoint presentation, CNC's chief operating officer, Chareleson Zheng, whose eyes are wide and eager, gives an enthusiastic history of the company and describes its network-"the most advanced fiber network in the world...
...Information threatens the status quo...
...In it, the British monarch asked for an exchange of trade and culture and suggested that delegations from the two countries could visit the other and learn...
...My dad goes on," Bo says, "but he never recovered from that time...
...Next Bo races to Oval Technologies, where John Sunn is busy in front of his computer...
...One typical interviewee said that she wanted a hundred thousand RMB a month and a housing allowance," he says...
...Now start-ups are viewed with caution, and the risk is too high for many young business school graduates...
...Instead, the 48 THE AMERICAN SPECTATOR • MAY/JUNE 2002 company I see reflects the reality of Oval's position as an early stage start-up: committed but hungry...
...We're telling our entrepreneurs to get some traction before they move on...
...The prison labor...
...It goes back to the lack of management training...
...And to Edward Tian...
...A few children run along the riverbank...
...Edward explains to me, "It means that an entrepreneur has a big idea in the morning and we can have it up and running on our data center that night...
...The nation's archaic, convoluted and inconsistent business systems with volumes of red tape can be overwhelming...
...Edward Tian's network is ready and already has extraordinary offerings, including IP telephony...
...He quotes yet another Chinese saying...
...Chinese workers for the first time will own shares of their company...
...It's not the best system by any means...
...He resolves to be hon est with them and respectful, though he is incapable of being obsequious...
...Edward introduces some staff members to Zhidong and the other Sina representatives and proposes a toast with a tall cup of jasmine tea...
...There are a lot of good people whose stock options are underwater," he says...
...At Asialnfo, my three priorities were corporate strategy and execution, dealing with customers and managing our corporate culture...
...He stands up straight, smacks his hands together and lets out a whoop...
...A world of multimedia offerings is coming...
...Edward adds, "As we go forward, we shall both find more ways of cooperation...
...We're preparing for the WTO, preparing for competition, preparing for the new generation of China as quickly as is humanly possible...
...It was easier to land them during the dot-com boom, since start-ups were making millionaires overnight...
...There are other examples...
...However, Deng Xiaoping opened up the door to a force that is changing China at a natural pace...
...Besides the concerns about the costs, it represented another stage in the transfer of power and assets from the government to the nation's citizens...
...For the paint corporation, iTom has created an interactive site at which customers can try out combinations of paint colors on virtual replicas of their homes...
...The emergence of a middle class in China will stabilize the entire society...
...No one inside or outside of China, including Liu, thought that a domestic company could compete with global brands such as IBM and Compaq...
...The cost: 6,000 RMB, or about $800, which includes a year of unlimited Internet service...
...Isn't it reasonable for the West to insist on conditions for free trade...
...Inside, dark wood is framed by lacquered red trim...
...They enter Edward's office...
...Liu seems very interested and asks Bo to set up a meeting with Edward...
...Chinese engineers are unprepared for what is expected of them...
...We'll help in whatever ways we can...
...Indeed, the success at Legend led to other bold ventures on the part of the government...
...Rather than modifying Western-made systems for Chinese users, Legend created products designed specifically for the local market, including Chinese-language programs...
...China Telecom was the sole carrier of information in China, so there were no innovations," he says...
...I'm keeping an eye for the chance to pick up gold from the garbage," John continues.That is, he's looking out for qualified people who are leaving companies that implode with the Internet balloon...
...When Bo asks about Legend's Internet service provider, Liu says the expected: It's China Telecom...
...He shivers, stretches and stuffs away the tiredness...
...In the process of creating a thriving company, Legend taught the government a lesson...
...Bo says that he doesn't understand why the directors do anything but celebrate Edward's accomplishments...
...He fidgets in his chair...
...In spite of the opposition, however, CNC's David Sh jTis a contributing editor to Wired and the author of Game Over and China Dawn...
...Any sign of Bo's former weariness is gone...
...Why is the accumulation of material possessions important relative to social change...
...It's a renovated "square house," or si heyuan, a courtyard palace in the traditional Chinese design with Bull tile with interlacing lotuses and curling waves lining the sharply peaked roof...
...The two Chinese IT stars again shake hands...
...Bo's venture group Chengwei has invested $1 million in the company...
...In some cases companies cannot directly hire employees, for instance...
...Meanwhile, Bo and his partner Eric Li are applying some of the same thinking to their own start-up-to Chengwei...
...programs, John and other CEOs have to compete with established American companies-everything from investment banks to international corporations...
...Working together, he says, "We will be creative and cooperative and accomplish truly great things for our company and for China...
...How are you different from the solutions offered by Oracle or BroadVision...
...John boots up his laptop on a round corner table...
...It was such a daunting assignment that Liu became depressed, certain that he would be unable to transfer his knowledge to the commercial realm...
...Their growing wealth is the point...
...Edward says, "At a company like CNC, so much is at stake that cost isn't necessarily the most important factor...
...With this investment, they have made more than they have made in 30 years...
...There's already evidence if you look at the changes of spending patterns in China.They indicate growing affluence...
...If Legend is the first PC company to offer broadband service, it will be a big selling point," he says...
...As Zhijun talks, Bo takes a last drag of his cigarette and then drops it on the brick courtyard and crushes it with his heel...
...He says, "Perhaps I was meant to fail so the academy could prove that we should stick to research...
...Let's go get a drink...
...He's animated, pacing with an excitement that's reminiscent of the children outside...
...The MAY/JUNE 2002 • THE AMERICAN SPECTATOR 45 proven brands have track records...
...He relates that Bo's father once counseled hirn to proceed as if he is swimming underwater-"quiet, humble, keeping below the surface...
...Torture in Chinese prisons...
...Bo leans back on a low bookcase along the far wall...
...Any company that wants to do something creative with voice, data and video can do so now because of CNC's bandwidth...
...Sina's WangYan, Zhidong's number two, with a raggy new haircut and a typically bright necktie-lime green-describes ways that Sina can utilize the CNC broadband system...
...They must work for a government intermediary...
...John becomes flustered...
...No one likes to be told what to do...
...In a way it sucks," he says, "but it makes you tougher...
...When I look at Bo, watching from the corner of the room, I'm surprised to see that he seems amused-even when Edward abruptly stands and says, "Thank you for coming...
...Chinese-trained engineers, on the other hand, have what John describes as "an inflated sense of their value to companies...
...One reason was the fear that the move could be precedent-setting...
...The Chinese expression describes the transformation of a poor man into a rich one because of his hard work...
Vol. 35 • May 2002 • No. 3
