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Have you experienced law enforcement and courts in China? I have on several occasions. As well as the U.S.. I lived in Shanghai 10 years. I'm in the U.S. ri

Have you experienced law enforcement and courts in China? I have on several occasions. As well as the U.S.. I lived in Shanghai 10 years. I'm in the U.S. right now with my Chinese wife. My experiences in Shanghai court and with Shanghai police were more fair and congenial than in the U.S. My wife and I were at the county courthouse (U.S.) a week ago and we talked a bit about the flow of a court proceeding. Somewhere in the middle of my description she stopped me and said "You mean the judge takes the word of the police with no hard evidence over the word of the defendant?". Even further, in the U.S., the police usually make some sort of determination of what happened or who is at fault in disputes. This bias carries over into legal proceedings. Not so in Shanghai. The police only take witness reports exactly as stated and provide notarization and copies of the reports to the parties. Running an Internet business in China is not impossible. I ran and helped others run them for 10 years. The Internet censoring can be a problem at times but is not a top factor in your success or failure as a business.

ErrantX 16y ago
I've stayed out of this till now; but feel I have to add something here. I worked for a client in Shanghai to clear him of Fraud allegations (just to get it out of the way; he was beyond clearly innocent - competitors had planted "evidence" and reported him). One of the most memorable things he said (and I feel this sums up Chinese hierarchy to a tee) was: The legal system here is absolutely great. It's when they decide not to use it that things get dicey
- jhancock 16y ago
  Apologies if my previous post implied China law and justice was better than the U.S. The two systems aren't easily compared. I was attempting to provide a counterbalance to my parent post's hyperbola. [ADDED]: I should not have said the China system is more fair and congenial than the U.S. What I should have said is I was disarmed by how fair it was compared to what I was prepared to experience based on my prejudice. As to what your client went through...all I can say is there are bad people everywhere. Rule #1 for me in China is "Don't do business with shady people or in market segments dominated by shady people". I think you can apply this rule anywhere.
  - ErrantX 16y ago
    Not in quite the same way. Because all you need to do is compete with a local firm too well, or piss off the wrong person, or cause problems by not working in the accepted way. There's the crucial difference I feel. (though on the other hand it's not as bad a picture as some people like to paint. You just have to be sensible and keep your head down)

ErrantX 16y ago

I've stayed out of this till now; but feel I have to add something here. I worked for a client in Shanghai to clear him of Fraud allegations (just to get it out of the way; he was beyond clearly innocent - competitors had planted "evidence" and reported him). One of the most memorable things he said (and I feel this sums up Chinese hierarchy to a tee) was: The legal system here is absolutely great. It's when they decide not to use it that things get dicey

jhancock 16y ago
Apologies if my previous post implied China law and justice was better than the U.S. The two systems aren't easily compared. I was attempting to provide a counterbalance to my parent post's hyperbola. [ADDED]: I should not have said the China system is more fair and congenial than the U.S. What I should have said is I was disarmed by how fair it was compared to what I was prepared to experience based on my prejudice. As to what your client went through...all I can say is there are bad people everywhere. Rule #1 for me in China is "Don't do business with shady people or in market segments dominated by shady people". I think you can apply this rule anywhere.
- ErrantX 16y ago
  Not in quite the same way. Because all you need to do is compete with a local firm too well, or piss off the wrong person, or cause problems by not working in the accepted way. There's the crucial difference I feel. (though on the other hand it's not as bad a picture as some people like to paint. You just have to be sensible and keep your head down)