Business is back full speed and while President Xi Jinping is heading for Brussels, a sizeable trade delegation organized by “FIT” visited Beijing. On the occasion, the Embassy of Belgium organized a walking buffet on Monday 24 March. Hosts were Ambassador Michel Malherbe and Peter Christiaen, Trade & Investment Counsellor of Flanders at the Embassy.

Belgium may not always make the headlines here but businessmen from Belgium – both Flanders and Wallonia – are frequent visitors to China and many have been operating here since decades.
Buffet was done by our friend Renaat Morel, great food and a lot of Belgian beer.

The seminar for RIT was held once more in the Guomao Jiamei Dental Clinic , on Monday 24 March. First time I gave a seminar to that Business School. For me an interesting experience as the group counted hearing-impaired students who were skillfully helped by sign language “translators”. Lively discussion followed.

Subject: the usual introduction on China plus an overview of the challenges China is facing today.

The Benelux Chamber of Commerce organized the BenCham’s “Young” Professional Series 2014 on 20 March in the Belgian embassy.
The idea was to interact, exchange and co-create an unprecedented experience with people passionate about their careers and interested in becoming the “next generation” that will make a difference. As active member I attended the event and met interesting young people. Also, opportunity to try some Belgian chocolate and beer…

Two speakers:
Cao Kai:
Having graduated from Linkoping University of Sweden, and Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales of France. He is currently working for the Science and Technology Talent Center of the Ministry of Science and Technology. At the same time, Vice President of Erasmus Mundus Alumni Chinese Chapter. He shared information about entrepreneurship and innovation in China with particular focus on Beijing, and introduced policy as well as opportunities to start a business in China.
Thierry De Dobbeleer:
After graduating from University of Louvain as a Software Engineer in 2001, Thierry left Belgium for Beijing to work for GEMALTO, the World Leader in Digital Security. Soon, he started to invest more and more time in side projects such as NEW SENSE Design & Communication Agency and BEER MANIA Belgian Bar & Restaurant. His first affinity towards China came after studying Chinese language with Professor Francoise Paron in Louvain-la-Neuve. He is particularly interested in the way businesses operate in a country like China and how to improve their processes to manage successful SME.
Beer Mania is now a well-known bar in Beijing and offers a wide range of Belgian beers. The customer base is more and more Chinese, a trend we see in the other Belgian places like Morel’s Restaurant and the three “The Tree” bars.

See the articles in SCMP that unfortunately describe too well the plight from construction workers, often unpaid, often beaten up while police and officials turn a blind eye.
http://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1450123/construction-workers-pay-price-chinas-rush-development
http://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1450122/migrant-construction-workers-lowest-low
Welcome to “Communist” China where workers are exploited at times as bad as before 1949. Armies of thugs (well paid obviously) rule the sector while the police looks on and the officials pocket the bribes. Those workers are modern-day slaves, third-rank citizens with other migrants being the second-rank citizens, trying to make a living in the cities, without a hukou, without an employment contract, without right to education and healthcare for the family. And they can forget the dream to buy a modest apartment in the city, being faced with ever increasing rents by greedy landlords. Then Beijingers complain it is hard to find service people.
Now, as a foreign company, just try not to sign contracts with your staff, or pay no social security, or even just shout at your workers. No answer needed. In the meantime, during the “Lianghui” a lot of blabla. I can’t but deeply despise all those fake socialist officials. Worse is that while foreigners mostly treat their workers better, many Chinese become anti-foreigner and want us out. Many of the old expats are leaving in disgust. This is China 2014.
While I am not yet seriously thinking about leaving, the attitudes of the new rich, their despicable arrogance and ultra-nationalism, the ignorance among the young netizens (Putin is good, Obama is bad etc.) do shock me. Of course you can always find some foreigners who behave badly but that is still a minority.
Many of the “Old China Hands” miss the time when Chinese people were nice, cared about each other and had friendly attitudes towards the foreigners. There are still many “nice Chinese” but the amount of “Ugly Chinese” is growing unabated.
So sad.