Chinese and foreign media have extensively reported on the anniversary of 30 years of opening up – started in 1978.
Some of my personal stories will be part of my book.
I visited the exhibition on the topic, held in China World from 19 to 30 December:
“A 30-Year History: Exhibition on China’s Opening up”
It did not receive much coverage in the English press, a pity because the two exhibition floors were fully packed with overviews op the economic history – province by province, country by country plus some extras. I was the only foreigner; many Chinese groups were visiting with help of free guides available at the reception.

I wanted to see how the Ministry of Commerce had used some of my contributions. Every country had exactly the same exhibit space so I was happy to find back several of my pieces, like the post cards announcing my office move within the Beijing Hotel and later to the Kunlun Hotel – all in the early eighties, as well as the large glass model of the “The Athletes Alley” by Olivier Strebelle. See the pics. Also shown are the three stands of the Benelux: Belgium, Netherlands and Luxembourg.
See also the large auditorium where I saw the interview on screen with Bart Pennewaert, First Secretary of the Belgian Embassy. There were also large touch screens to consult the data.
I opened the first Belgian Representative Office in Beijing with a Belgian Representative, in early 1981. See me with my secretary Chen Jilun at the door of room 5109 (“West Wing” of Beijing Hotel) in 1981. That time there were no office buildings, no apartments for business people – nothing. So that room was for a long time the office but also my bedroom, living room, “dining” room.
What changes since then…

On Friday 9 January I addressed once again an EMBA delegation from the Copenhagen Business School. The topic of my seminar – not the first one of that type – was about the Chinese business environment and “lobbying” in China.
One of my friends tried to convince me that “lobbying is illegal in China”. We can say that our consulting firm is very much focused on what I call “strategic consulting and lobbying”. Obviously most people stay away from that topic and certainly that sticker – as in many countries it has gained a bad reputation and is being seen as unfair and a cover of corruption. I stick to that word being already known to “provoke” a little.

The seminar tries exactly to address this misunderstanding, of course noting that the definition like on Wikipedia (excellent material there!) does not literally apply to what we do – though one could argue that when e.g. the European Chamber approaches the Chinese government to change or influence laws and regulations it is exactly that. Some extracts from Wikipedia:
Lobbying is the practice of influencing decisions made by government. It includes all attempts to influence legislators and officials, whether by other legislators, constituents or organized groups. A lobbyist is a person who tries to influence legislation on behalf of a special interest or a member of a lobby. Governments often define and regulate organized group lobbying.
I explain what we understand with “lobbying” through two projects I completed successfully:
– The Athletes Alley by Olivier Strebelle (Belgium) in Beijing
– Restarting metro projects in China: obtaining the contract for Shanghai Metro Line 3 (when I was heading the Shanghai Alstom office).
In short, “lobbying” is the art of dealing with the complex Chinese bureaucracy and getting your message across. Most of the time it also means the foreign side needs to understand Chinese concerns and take them into consideration.
And it does not imply giving out envelopes with cash or something. That does not last long anyway.
Wikipedia also notes: “There are currently around 15,000 lobbyists in Brussels (consultants, lawyers, associations, corporations, NGOs etc.) seeking to influence the EU’s legislative process. Some 2,600 special interest groups have a permanent office in Brussels.”
Interesting…