Eight+ Things to Read About China and Other Things, Part 15

This is the fifteenth episode in our ongoing Saturday series on eight+ things to read about China and a lot more. We constantly get emails from readers asking what to read on China and all sorts of things related and even barely related to China and this series is intended to constantly and consistently answer these questions.

As we said in our initial post on this, our plan is to list out eight (or so) articles we benefited from reading and think you our readers would also benefit from reading, along with a very brief explanation as to why the particular article was included. More specifically:

The articles will likely include many on China and on Asia and a few on international trade, international politics, Spain and Latin America, economics and really just anything else we believe might benefit our readers or even that we just want people to read. We do not plan to choose articles that push our or any other political agenda or any other agenda for that matter, but having said that, we are not objective and our views may creep through. Our goal though is to focus on articles that are important or helpful or — most importantly — that make you think. Our posting of an article will NOT mean we agree with all of it or even any of it. Most of the articles will be from the week preceding the post but we will also sometimes throw in older articles (classics if you will) as well.

Please do not hesitate to comment at the end of this or any other post. We cannot tell you how much we appreciate your comments, good, bad and indifferent.

Here we go, in absolutely no particular order.

1. Negotiating in China: Jack’s Ten Rules for Success. Managing the Dragon. Because knowing how to negotiate with Chinese companies is crucial and because Jack Perkowski knows how to negotiate in China. My personal favorite was “nothing succeeds like indifference,” because Chinese companies know exactly how to play against foreign overeager foreign companies.

2. China’s happy future: One system, six countries. Politico. Because it at least bears asking whether “the inevitable dismantlement of the Chinese Communist empire has begun.”

3. All the World’s Coal Power Plants in One Map. Visual Capitalist. Because global warming is real (duh) and because coal is a chief contributor to it and because the graphics in this article are fantastic (which is par for the course for this site). And because China “retains the largest fleet of coal plants, consuming a staggering 45% of the world’s coal.”

4. The ‘dark side’ of Finland’s famous free health care. CNN. Because if this is the worst CNN can come up with to besmirch healthcare in Finland it still sounds amazingly good to me. Because I am tired of how whenever anyone in the United States talks about how something works well in any Scandinavian country, the retort is always, “but of course that could never work here [in the United States] because we are so much different demographically” and I think that is code for saying I am not even going to consider learning from other country’s successes.

5. A 50,000 Person Harvard Study Reveals the 3 Telltale Signs of the Most Toxic Employees. Inc. Because when I started my own law firm I initially (and wrongly) believed every employee problem could be solved. Because early on we had a lawyer who everyone else (lawyers and staff) hated because he was so condescending and because his firing hugely improved morale almost instantly.

6. Gastronomic terrorism: How the cucumber has sliced Spain in two. Guardian. Because Spain is apparently “gripped by the question of whether or not the vegetable is a vital ingredient of gazpacho soup” and since we have offices in Spain, this fissure could prove detrimental for my law firm. Because I love it both ways I am probably well equipped to help moderate this dispute. Because this has to be the first time the words “terrorism” and “cucumber” (but probably not gastronomic”) have been used in the same sentence.

7. German government backs mandatory vaccinations for all schoolchildren. CNN. Because this headline defines a major difference between the typical EU country and the United States, with the EU tilting toward protecting its citizens and the United States tilting towards protecting its citizens’ freedom to choose. As lawyers we deal with these differences all the time when it comes to things like data privacy, advertising and product safety.

8. The Trade War Is Flooding the U.S. with Soybeans. Luckily, They Could Be Better for Us Than We Thought. Barrons.  Because this is a great example of how big changes always spawn unintended consequences, good and bad.  

9. The Nuns Who Bought and Sold Human Beings. New York Times. Because who knew? Because who thinks it is not important to know this?

10. The Great Land Robbery: The shameful story of how 1 million black families have been ripped from their farms. Atlantic. Because I believe too many Americans desperately (or not so desperately) want to believe racism ended long ago and its impacts did as well.

11. The water is so hot in Alaska it’s killing large numbers of salmon. CNN. Because even small temperature increases can have major impacts on how we live.

12. Worried Hong Kong Residents Are Moving Money Out as Protests Escalate. Wall Street Journal. our immigration lawyers Because Hong Kong as an international financial/business center is in its death throes. Because we have seen an uptick in work from Hong Kongers looking to immigrate to the United States.

13. No Mercy/No Malice: WeWTF. Professor Galloway. Because this takedown of WeWork’s upcoming IPO has to be one of the most amazing takedowns of a company or an IPO I’ve ever read. Because it will serve as a great contrast to the typical Buy or Hold recommendations we will no doubt be seeing from Wall Street soon.