Authors

July 21, 2006: Chinese Culture Can Be A Hurdle for Advertisers

Advertising in China is progressing rapidly.  Companies are trying to break away from standard advertising tactics and are starting to use more creativity in their ad campaigns.  However, sometimes that creativity can backfire.  Recently, KFC suffered a blow to its brand image in China due to some of its advertising.  KFC caught heat from some Chinese consumers for a new commercial depicting historical Taoist leader, Fu Qing Zhu, grasping a KFC chicken sandwich and proclaiming it to be a masterpiece.  The scene in the commercial is based on the Chinese movie, Seven Swords.

July 12, 2006: China Using Internet to Promote Language, Culture

The Chinese government recently launched a new website to promote the study and use of the Chinese language. The site offers many different sections to help foster the use of the language by foreigners both in China and abroad.  Along with language help, the site also has content devoted to Chinese news and events, teacher training, experiencing China, blogs and a discussion forum.

July 06, 2006: Chinese Language Programs Expanding in Minnesota Schools

Over the last week, my brother-in-law has been visiting China with an education delegation from the state of Minnesota.  Their mission here in China was to inquire about beginning Chinese language programs in Minnesota Public Schools.  As a student of the Chinese language myself, this makes me excited for future Minnesota students, but I also have to admit it makes me jealous these same programs weren’t available to me.

Since I have been in China, the language has been coming slowly, but surely. I spent my high school and college years learning Spanish. While Spanish might be a more practical language to learn for the Midwest or U.S., I feel envious of the opportunity younger students may now have to learn Chinese—a language that may prove to be a valuable asset for them in the future.

June 22, 2006: World Cup, China Style

I grew up in North Dakota and Minnesota, where football—American football—is king throughout the fall. And, baseball and golf takes center spotlight in the summer. However, now that I am in Beijing, most major American sports, other than basketball, are pretty much ignored over here.

I never really paid much attention to soccer, but it is big here in China…and now even more so since the start of the World Cup. Being the capital city of the most populous country on earth, Beijing is filled with people from all over the world.  Just about everywhere you go you can find die-hard supporters for many of the teams playing in this big event.

June 16, 2006: Outdoor Advertising Growing Fast In China

As I mentioned in a recent post, online marketing in China is growing fast.  Another recent article in eMarketer confirms this and reports online advertising is expected to grow 60 percent this year.  The eMarketer story also projects outdoor advertising to have an expected growth of 25 percent this year.

June 08, 2006: Podcasts Revolutionizing Language Study

When I began studying Chinese a couple of years ago, there were only a few good learning methods. You could either read a book and study diligently, or buy cassettes/CDs and listen for hours while trying to stay focused. Either way, it was difficult to remain disciplined.

Personally, I found the best answer was to move to China! However, if this is an extreme option for you, you’ll be interested to know that over the past two years, methods for learning foreign languages have been improved, thanks to the Internet and podcasts. The creation of websites like chinesepod.com, japanesepod101.com, among others, are revolutionizing the language industry. These websites combine the books, the CDs, and the classroom all into one.

May 31, 2006: China’s Domestic Auto Industry Going Strong

In 1949, when Mao Ze Dong and his followers established the People’s Republic of China, one of the major principles of the new regime was self-sufficiency. Not until the late 1970’s and early 80’s did China begin to open its doors to the outside world. In Chinese, China is pronounced, “Zhong Guo” and is literally translated to “middle kingdom.”  Throughout history, China has always thought of itself as the center of the world.  However, due to slow technological development from 1949 to the early 1980’s, China found itself behind in a world being driven by technological advances.

May 25, 2006: Internet Advertising Flourishes in China

I have been living in China for almost two years now. Although my studies in Chinese are progressing well, I still don’t have quite enough command of the dialogue to get the full benefit of Chinese TV programming. As a result, a lot of my free time is spent using the internet for communication, news and entertainment purposes.

After I’ve read my email and reviewed the news online, one thing I enjoy checking out is what’s new on the popular video site, YouTube.  I know it is popular in the U.S., but it is also popular in China. The site enables anyone to post a video about almost anything. Last year, Motorola China launched a campaign for a new model of cell phone. Their way to market this new product:  Internet video.  Motorola thoughtfully signed on a pair of college students from southwest China’s Guangdong province whose popularity was growing due to homemade lip-sync videos they posted on YouTube.  The duo is now known as the “Back Dorm Boys” due to their habit of performing Backstreet Boys songs.

May 17, 2006: Entrepreneurial Attitudes Alive and Well in China

The entrepreneurial spirit is very much alive in China! On Saturday, I went to a popular shopping area in Beijing called Xidan (pronounced “She-don”). It consisted of sidewalks lined with vendors selling anything from corn-on-the-cob to cell phones. This area of Beijing reminded me a lot of state fairs back home. Chinese street merchants often use a “carnival vendor” approach when selling or advertising their products—they simply yell and scream the name of their product at the top of their lungs.  Although this method would not fly in most shopping malls or even at street fairs in the US, in China, this is what people are accustomed to and it usually works.  The vendors are relentless. They sweet-talk and even grab customers until some deal has been struck and the customer agrees to purchase their product.

May 14, 2006: China’s Changing Consumer Attitudes

When you exit the baggage claim area at Capital International Airport in Beijing, the Chinese language characters immediately make you realize that you are in a foreign land and culture shock sets in. However, you also quickly notice two very familiar signs of home—KFC and Starbucks.

Throughout the past 20 years, foreign products (and companies) have been entering the Chinese market at an ever-increasing rate.  As China continues to develop, so does the demand and market for these international goods.  More than ever, educated young Chinese are eating, drinking, watching and wearing products marketed by the world’s multinational companies. They don’t necessarily aspire to be westernized, but rather modern. The youth in China will buy just about anything if it has something to do with the West.

May 07, 2006: China’s “Golden Week” Creates Buzz

In 1999, the Chinese government established three “Golden Weeks” in China as a way to boost domestic demand, stimulate consumption, and restructure the economy. Since long holidays are usually “golden” for the economy, thus the name.  The first Golden Week of each year is the Spring Festival and it starts on the Chinese Lunar New Year—which falls in late January or early February each year.  The second Golden Week starts on May 1st, the Labor Day holiday in China. The last Golden Week falls on October 1st, Chinese National Day and the anniversary of Mao Ze Dong’s establishment of the People’s Republic of China. 

During these Golden Weeks people have seven continuous days off of work. What’s interesting is though people are given the entire week off, they are still required to work on Saturday and Sunday before the Golden Week. This harkens back to the days in China when most people worked six days a week, with a long weekend or two only every now and then.

April 28, 2006: Blogging In China: Cultural Differences

The number of Internet users in China is increasing at a rapid rate.  The Internet opens up a whole new world of opportunities and knowledge for its users.  In China, a country where self-expression and outspoken criticism has long been a calling card for some harsh consequences, the opportunity to “blog” has provided a new avenue for people’s thoughts and feelings.

Some Chinese people are having a tough time adjusting to this newfound freedom.  An article from Xinhuanet.com shows that many Chinese people are discontinuing their blogs due to unwanted criticism from readers.