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January 2008 - Posts

China Mobile knows where you are -- should you care?

Posted Monday, January 28, 2008 5:19 AM by will
One of the hallmarks of bad China journalism is reacting hysterically when China is found to be doing things that everyone else is doing. Unfortunately, it happens rather a lot, presumably because hysteria shifts more units than thoughtful, reasonable Read More...
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Ich Bin Ein Beijinger: Beijing reloaded

Posted Sunday, January 27, 2008 9:26 PM by will
I pinch-hit for Kaiser on the back page of That's Beijing's January issue. Thanks to my stint in Shanghai it's the first time in nearly a year that I've written something for them. Fittingly, I wrote about moving back to Beijing from Shanghai. The column Read More...
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When Chinese press conference cliches go wrong

Posted Monday, January 21, 2008 6:43 AM by will
Imagethief has always been annoyed by the Chinese inclination to festoon press conferences with flowers. Spokespeople get corsages. Dais tables and podiums get bouquets. You'd think you were at a wedding if weren't for the fact that everyone is bored Read More...
12 Comments

Two cool new blogs

Posted Monday, January 21, 2008 6:08 AM by will
I'm not generally disposed to point to new blogs other than adding them to my blogroll because I assume you're all already reading Danwei and China Law Blog , both of which do that sort of thing much more regularly than I do. However in this case I'm Read More...
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CRI interviews me about Olympic marketing

Posted Saturday, January 19, 2008 2:32 AM by will
China Radio International's Su Xiaowei interviewed me last week for about half an hour on Olympic related marketing and PR. Among other things, I spoke about why the Games are important, what companies can do to communicate around the Olympics successfully, Read More...
4 Comments

Notice: EU scholarships for English-Chinese interpreters available

Posted Saturday, January 19, 2008 1:03 AM by will
A friend of mine who is a former interpreter for the European Union's diplomatic office in Beijing (now freelance) has asked me to run the notice below. The EU is offering €25,000 scholarships for native English speakers with Chinese skills who are interested Read More...
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Pardon me if I don't salute China's plastic bag ban

Posted Monday, January 14, 2008 6:35 AM by will
To look at the news surrounding China's recent announcement of a ban on thin plastic bags you'd think the gates to environmental heaven had just swung open. I'm sure I could see those very gates if the air outside my office windows wasn't full of nitrogen Read More...
18 Comments

Blue sky days: If at first you don't succeed, change the metric

Posted Thursday, January 10, 2008 7:27 AM by will
You really didn't believe that things were getting better, did you? And you didn't believe that it fate that led Beijing to squeak past its 2007 blue-sky target by a margin of one whole day, did you? Conspiracy theorists, rejoice. Via Danwei , the Wall Read More...
10 Comments

Is it warmer or is it just me?

Posted Thursday, January 10, 2008 7:10 AM by will
I knew it was getting warmer. This is my fourth winter in Beijing. The first one was a near-death experience. Of course, I had been living in the tropics for nine years, so I had some adjusting to do. But still, it was brutal. The north wind ripped through Read More...
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Chinese innovation brings us one step closer to green eggs and ham

Posted Wednesday, January 09, 2008 10:09 PM by will
Yes, it's more fluorescent, green pigs. Details here (AP) and here (Xinhua). It used to be when you saw a green, glowing pig you automatically assumed a nuclear accident nearby. How times have changed. Naturally, this will all yield great benefits for Read More...
2 Comments

Bad PR: Liaoning cadres successfully enrage all media in China

Posted Wednesday, January 09, 2008 5:44 AM by will
Imagethief wants to send his heartiest congratulations to the party secretary of Liaoning's Xifeng county and his crack team of cadres. 2008 is less than two weeks old and they are already in serious contention for dumb media scandal of the year thanks Read More...
6 Comments

I wouldn't respect any list that would have me as a member

Posted Tuesday, January 08, 2008 1:50 AM by will
Imagethief just discovered, thanks to Kaiser , that he was named the number one industry blog in Asia last month by Hong Kong PR and advertising trade Media . They didn't send the team strip-o-gram that I would have appreciated by way of notification Read More...
7 Comments

Write Japanese poetry and get some vodka

Posted Monday, January 07, 2008 8:54 PM by will
Beijing Boyce, barfly supreme, has asked yours-truly to be one of four judges for a (an?) haiku-writing contest he is running on his blog . Outstanding haikunauts can win a bottle of primo 42 Below vodka (or, for one extremely happy winner, three bottles). Read More...
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Body language and PR: It's not just what comes out of your mouth

Posted Sunday, January 06, 2008 12:55 AM by will
When we train spokespeople how to do interviews we have a section on body language. In it we often show a clip of a well known Hong Kong CEO chuckling as he announces a round of layoffs, as well as some of the headlines and comment that were generated Read More...
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David Wolf on Danwei FM

Posted Sunday, January 06, 2008 12:44 AM by will
Robert Ness of Danwei's "Danwei FM" podcast series has interviewed my old China PR mentor, David Wolf on technology in China. David runs consultancy Wolf Group Asia and authors the always interesting Silicon Hutong and Peking Review blogs. In this interview Read More...
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Chinese political media management in theory and practice

Posted Friday, January 04, 2008 6:33 AM by will
From a Xinhua article on media training at the Central Party School, as noted by Danwei , this passage: "Candidness not only woos media, but also the people, and it is needed because the public are not to be fooled," [course instructor Gao Xinmin] said. Read More...
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Three more stories to start the new year

Posted Thursday, January 03, 2008 5:58 AM by will
A few articles worth a look today: Olympic risks in China Evan Osnos of the Chincago Tribune has written an article reviewing the many risks that China faces in hosting the Olympics: Chinese leaders warn that the Games should not be politicized. But they Read More...
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Googling for weirdness in China

Posted Thursday, January 03, 2008 5:50 AM by will
From the China Daily , here are the top ten Google searches in China for 2007: Interesting (also for what it says about the English speaking world), but the real gem in this article is right down at the bottom, where they list the top English language Read More...
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Crushed beneath the hooves of the green, Olympic PR stampede

Posted Thursday, January 03, 2008 5:41 AM by will
Amidst all the New Year optimism it seems churlish to complain, but the holiday season happens to overlap PR planning season, and PR planning season is almost always a good time to complain. It's not that I dislike planning for my clients. Planning is Read More...
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A few stories to start the new year

Posted Wednesday, January 02, 2008 5:56 AM by will
I am ringing in 2008 by being officially too lazy to write anything original. But here are a few interesting stories from the past few days that are worth a read: And I thought Aussies were relaxed Controversy in Australia, which has announced the implementation Read More...
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