Their Own Worst Enemy

Chinese Red Alert

Business ethics and business law do sometimes collide. But such problems are especially acute in China, where managers' interests are closely aligned to local Party bosses. Chinese managers' job performance is often based on how many jobs they create and how many widgets they churn out, not something as intangible as consumer protection, let alone "brand reputation."

Nor is there any self-correcting mechanism at work in China. Local health regulators often report to local government officials -- the same officials who own the companies that inspectors are supposed to be monitoring. Tort claims can't be brought by customers because the judiciary isn't independent. The state-owned press isn't free to ferret out corruption.

That leaves foreign JV partners as the last line of defense for their customers. Smart foreign firms have either installed their own people in China to supervise production or ditched minority stakeholdings altogether in favor of wholly owned operations. Mattel, for instance, owns many of its factories in China. That didn't avert a problem with lead paint in toys, but when problems were discovered, Mattel could move quickly to initiate a recall and regain its customers' trust. Fonterra, on the other hand, shared its safety-monitoring expertise with Sanlu and trusted it was being followed. It wasn't.

The Chinese government is making a show of its "justice," firing the local Party bosses and Sanlu's management team. National-level officials are scrambling to show that they're in control so people don't riot in the streets and demand their heads. Meanwhile the scandal spreads: In the past week, authorities have turned up contamination problems at as many as 21 other dairy companies. In the wake of disasters, as in the Sanlu case, Beijing usually tightens enforcement and introduces new regulations. But regulation can only accomplish so much.

It's the system itself, not just the company or the dairy industry, that's broken. Until the government -- and the Communist Party -- break their ties with business, managers' incentives will always be aligned with those of their political bosses, not their customers. In the meantime, made-in-China products will come under increasing scrutiny from foreign companies that make them there, and from consumers who buy them. None of this will begin to compensate the families who have lost their children.

Old China News Agency -- II

The New E-spionage Threat

• China's Response to BusinessWeek
• Interactive Graphic: Anatomy of a Spear-Phish
• Podcast: Behind the Cover
• An Evolving Crisis
• BusinessWeek TV: New Cyber Threat
• Video: Defending the Homeland
• Warning About Certain Internet Addresses
• CERT: Online Attacks Threaten U.S. Financial Institutions (.pdf)
• CERT: U.S. Defense Contractors and Government Employee Targets (.pdf)

Battling the crisis in China

China Bolsters One-Child Policy

Choking on Growth: China's Environmental Crisis

Choking on Growth: China's Environmental Crisis

A series of articles and multimedia examining the human toll, global impact and political challenge of China’s epic pollution crisis.

The Overview
China's Water Crisis
The Activist
Three Gorges Dam
Energy Rules
Wildlife Threatened
Polluting Trucks
Farming Fish
Two Steel Towns
A Green Olympics?


Rule by Law

By JOSEPH KAHN and JIM YARDLEY
Articles in this series examined the struggle in China over the creation of a modern legal system.

February 25, 2007

City Limits
By HOWARD W. FRENCH
Articles in this series examined the phenomenal growth of Shenzhen from a sleepy fishing village near Hong Kong to a booming Chinese metropolis.

December 19, 2006

Crosscurrents: The Yellow River

By JIM YARDLEY
Articles in this series examined life along the Yellow River in China.

December 2, 2006

The Great Divide

By JOSEPH KAHN and JIM YARDLEY
Articles in this series examined the widening gap between the rural poor and urban rich that has made China, the world's fastest-growing economy, also one of its most unequal societies.

December 31, 2004

The World's Sweatshop

By JOSEPH KAHN
Articles in this series examined the hazards facing industrial workers in China, now Asia's leading exporter to the United States.

Chinese Air Pollution - heavy pollution covers the city Dec. 27, 2007

Pee Park?

Chinese men walk past a signboard at a pay parking lot in Beijing, where "fee" is mistakenly spelled as "pee". The Chinese capital has began a campaign to improve its signposting in English ahead of the 2008 Olympic Games. Among signs in need of correcting were ones for "Pubic Toilets," and "Deformed Men" -- the latter indicating facilities for the handicapped.

(AFP/Goh Chai Hin)

Open sesame for China's Web king

He pulled off the hottest Internet IPO since Google. Now Alibaba founder and CEO Jack Ma has his sights set on the rest of the world.

Jack Ma's Alibaba.com enjoys a 69 percent market share in B2B e-commerce in China.

My Short March Through China

"Thinking about Yuan and her friends—cosmopolitan, English-speaking students at China’s most elite university—I find it difficult to imagine that the People’s Republic will easily contain them. Some will undoubtedly be co-opted by economic opportunities, like much of China’s middle class; others will end up serving the Chinese state, perhaps in a role like that of Mr. Huang, practicing the “techniques of hospitality” on foreign visitors. But it seems just as likely that, following the lead of the previous generation, they will begin to ask why China, alone among the world’s great nations, cannot enjoy the full range of modern freedoms. Their protestations aside, they may yet have their own Tiananmen. If it comes to that, one can only pray that this time it turns out very differently."

The Olympic Bible

The organizers of the 2008 Olympic Games in China have put the Bible on the list of items that athletes are banned from bringing with them to Beijing, we learn from a report in the Catholic News Service, picking up an item in the Italian daily La Gazzetta dello Sport.

In China, a Lake’s Champion Imperils Himself

This is the third in a series of articles and multimedia examining the human toll, global impact and political challenge of China's epic pollution crisis.

• Video: Lake Tai’s Environmental Warrior
• Audio Slide Show: A Lake In Crisis
• Expert Roundtable: Submit a Question

As China Roars, Pollution Reaches Deadly Extremes

By JOSEPH KAHN and JIM YARDLEY

The speed of China’s rise as an economic power is unprecedented, as is the scale of its problems.

• Video: The Real Cost
• Interactive Graphic: Mapping the Impact
• Audio Slide Show: The World’s Smokestack
• Translation: Text (pdf) | Audio (mp3)

Beneath Booming Cities, China’s Future Is Drying Up

By JIM YARDLEY

Groundwater levels are dropping around China, as development taps a finite water supply.

• Video: Sending Water North
• Interactive Graphic: Where Water is Scarce
• Translation: Text (pdf) | Audio (mp3)

China's Tallest Building Nearly Done

Workers walk out from construction site of Shanghai World Financial Center on Thursday Sept. 13, 2007 in Shanghai, China. The concrete, steel, and glass tower is due to be finished in spring of 2008, when its 101 stories will loom 1,614 feet (492 meters) over China's business hub. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)

The Cross - Jesus in China

Seeds of Blood follows the bloody footprints of the Chinese missionaries of the older generation after the Boxer Rebellion, particularly in the past fifty years. The Bitter Cup abounds with compelling testimonies by missionaries of the younger generation. Their dedication, suffering, faithfulness, and thanksgiving have led to an unprecedented revival of the Chinese Christian church. The Spring of Life recounts the rebirth that the Gospel has brought to a broad spectrum of people in modern China. Included are testimonies from farmers, students, officials, criminals, orphans, actors, writers, scientists, and entrepreneurs. The Canaan Hymns tells the amazing story of a farm girl Xiao Min. She is a high school dropout with no musical training. Nevertheless, she created nearly a thousand hymns by the power of the Holy Spirit. Quick Play High-Bandwidth Video Download Video
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As China Roars, Pollution Reaches Extremes

• Slide Show: The World's Smokestack
• Video: The Real Cost of China's Growth
• Interactive Graphic: Mapping the Impact

Chang W. Lee/The New York Times

As China Roars, Pollution Reaches Extremes

By JOSEPH KAHN and JIM YARDLEY

China’s pollution problem, like the speed and scale of its rise as an economic power, has shattered all precedents.

Chang W. Lee/The New York Times

China’s industrial growth depends on coal, which is plentiful but polluting, from strip mines like this one in Shenmu, Shaanxi Province.

• Ask a Question | Complete Coverage: Choking on Growth »
• Download an Audio Report in Mandarin Chinese (mp3)

The Boom Beyond Our Borders: Can China and India maintain their sizzling growth rates?

Smog and Mirrors: China's Plan for a Green Olympics

Photograph by Tony Law

Huge Dust Plumes From China Cause Changes in Climate

Courtesy SeaWiFS Project, NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center and ORBIMAGE

A satellite view from 2001 shows dust arriving in California from Asian deserts. Concentrations of dust are visible to the south, near the coastline (lower right); To the west the dust is mixed with clouds over open ocean. This dust event caused a persistent haze in places like Death Valley, California, where skies are usually crystal clear.

India vs. China, 2

I'm back after a whirlwind trip that lasted 4.5 days.

Cows -- You'll see them on the street tied to street signs, etc. They aren't particularly fit looking which is something I asked one of my Indian (non-Hindu) colleagues. "If female cows are gods, why are they so thin? Shouldn't they be fatter to show that they're needs are being met? Also, why aren't these gods free to roam? Why must they be tied to a sign or post? Shouldn't a god be free to roam wherever it chooses?" My colleague responded that these were good questions and he wasn't sure why the "idols" were treated this way.

Airport security -- When I arrived at the airport in Delhi to depart for the US, we were met by a soldier with a machine gun. If you do not have your updated itinerary showing the flight you plan to leave on, you can't enter the airport. I had moved my flight back to the U.S. up one day so I didn't have mine. I also wasn't aware I needed it to enter the airport. An American Airlines rep tried to sneak me by the man with the machine gun, but I was stopped. The rep very graciously went to the desk and got my e-ticket while the soldier pointed his machine gun at me across his lap to keep me in place.

Driving in India -- It's chaotic but less so than China. We didn't drive on the berm or in the wrong lanes. However, the lane stripes are mainly decoration. You'll usually stay with the solid lines but lanes on the road matter litter.

Water for many is still distributed from wells on the side of the road. You see lots of women drawing water into cisterns and carrying it home or wherever on their heads.

It's quite dusty and dry despite the very high humidity in Delhi. It was 106 Friday and 90+ percent humidity. Felt great in a suit. You'd walk out of tepid air conditioning and hit a wall of hot air that almost knocked your breath away.

The food was wonderful if you like Indian. I do. If not, there's TGI Friday's, Domino's, Pizza Hut and numerous hotels. The Hyatt we stayed at in Delhi is noted for India's best Italian food. It was quite good.

Hotel rooms and conference rooms at the hotels have service buttons. If you push them, a butler will arrive a few seconds later looking to help you. I thought mine was a light and couldn't understand why a butler had arrived at my door.

Bollywood - India's version of Hollywood. They care about entertainment and celebs almost as much as American's. The Times of India, a national daily, has a whole section about celeb gossip, photos, etc. Doesn't matter what nationality the celeb is, they cover it. It's verys ad to see the American influence on their culture, sexual attitudes, dress, etc. India is typically pretty conservative but as Western industries and $$ flow into the country, the society changes dramatically.