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I'm in my third year of Mandarin study, and I spent last summer in China. I'm not very good at speaking the language (but I do try). I've thought about busine

by buss 19y ago

I'm in my third year of Mandarin study, and I spent last summer in China. I'm not very good at speaking the language (but I do try). I've thought about business in China, but I have so many problems with their government that I'm not sure if I could actually do any business which resulted in a benefit to it (taxes). It is certainly an interesting place, and I'm going to keep learning the language, though.

jsmcgd 19y ago
If you did do business in China you would be supporting the government with taxes but on the other hand you would be providing a portal through to the west through which new thinking and opportunities could flow. This 'western portal' isn't as squeaky clean as it might once have been but on the whole its still probably a good thing.
- alaskamiller 19y ago
  That's pretty naive thinking. Almost as useful as thinking a war in Iraq can stabilize the Middle East.
ced 19y ago
That's an interesting perspective. I'd be curious to know if anyone has a problem with moving to the US, and "supporting the war" through taxes. Personally, I'm pretty ambivalent about it, but in the end, I would probably do whatever I think is best for the startup.
trevelyan 19y ago
Check out ChinesePod.com if you haven't. Blows everything else away.
rms 19y ago
You say this like the United States doesn't engage in its own brand of evil. China is certainly quantitatively worse in terms of executions and human rights abuses but both governments commit atrocities as part of a very rational attempt to maintain power. In China, this requires the government to be somewhat authoritarian because the government and the people (except for the people of Tibet and Taiwan) want One China. It is only a very recent thing that all of China has been united and in the long term China will be incredibly powerful just by virtue of being one prosperous, populous nation. If China were to convert to democracy and allow free thought overnight, the economy is likely to collapse just like the Soviet Union. This is the model of sudden ideological change that China looks to. In the long run, China will become more free. Hu Jintao has made a lot of progress and will only do more now that his power base is completely solidified at the current People's 5 Yearly Conference. His Tsinghua Clique (graduates of China's preeminent engineering university, their equivalent of MIT) might even be more competent leaders than the businessmen and lawyers that run America.
h34t 19y ago
This only makes sense if you believe the negative impact of your contribution to the country's tax revenues (some of which is misspent or supports things you disagree with) is going to be stronger than the positive impact you'll make through the way you live your life and run your company. I think you'd have to be pretty pessimistic about yourself and your company to think that your net contribution to the country would be a negative.

by buss 19y ago

jsmcgd 19y ago

If you did do business in China you would be supporting the government with taxes but on the other hand you would be providing a portal through to the west through which new thinking and opportunities could flow. This 'western portal' isn't as squeaky clean as it might once have been but on the whole its still probably a good thing.

alaskamiller 19y ago
That's pretty naive thinking. Almost as useful as thinking a war in Iraq can stabilize the Middle East.

ced 19y ago

That's an interesting perspective. I'd be curious to know if anyone has a problem with moving to the US, and "supporting the war" through taxes. Personally, I'm pretty ambivalent about it, but in the end, I would probably do whatever I think is best for the startup.

trevelyan 19y ago

Check out ChinesePod.com if you haven't. Blows everything else away.

rms 19y ago

You say this like the United States doesn't engage in its own brand of evil. China is certainly quantitatively worse in terms of executions and human rights abuses but both governments commit atrocities as part of a very rational attempt to maintain power. In China, this requires the government to be somewhat authoritarian because the government and the people (except for the people of Tibet and Taiwan) want One China. It is only a very recent thing that all of China has been united and in the long term China will be incredibly powerful just by virtue of being one prosperous, populous nation. If China were to convert to democracy and allow free thought overnight, the economy is likely to collapse just like the Soviet Union. This is the model of sudden ideological change that China looks to. In the long run, China will become more free. Hu Jintao has made a lot of progress and will only do more now that his power base is completely solidified at the current People's 5 Yearly Conference. His Tsinghua Clique (graduates of China's preeminent engineering university, their equivalent of MIT) might even be more competent leaders than the businessmen and lawyers that run America.

h34t 19y ago

This only makes sense if you believe the negative impact of your contribution to the country's tax revenues (some of which is misspent or supports things you disagree with) is going to be stronger than the positive impact you'll make through the way you live your life and run your company. I think you'd have to be pretty pessimistic about yourself and your company to think that your net contribution to the country would be a negative.