Gilbert and the Media

Interview with Gilbert in “The World and China Magazine”

Posted on by Gilbert Van Kerckhove

In the interview I comment on the current difficulties for foreigners to obtain (and keep) a valid visa. Published in the edition August/September 2013:
http://www.shijiezhongguo.com/2013-46.pdf
“It is not easy to stay abord” (sic – should be aboard!) – Pages 23 to 25


The new regulations for visas, work permits and related are certainly not favorable for foreigners. In my opinion, China is closing its doors more and more for foreigners to work and live here. There is no real immigration as in other countries. The amount of foreigners in China is ridiculously low: maybe 1 million in a population of over 1.3 billion. Compare that to other countries.
And I guess it is only going to get worse. Once the new requirements trickle in, many will leave. Anyway a bunch of foreigners is already leaving (or refusing to come here) because of the horrendous pollution. Talk with people who do HR, moving, food and beverage, and you will get the picture.
China forgets that immigration has proved to be one of the vital factors for innovation and entrepreneurship in a country.
All the lip service of “China is a so friendly” and “China welcomes foreigners” is a lot of hot air.
China only welcomes our money and our technology?
I am preparing a more detailed report on the issue.

After the Adventures of Tintin and Milou…

Posted on by Gilbert Van Kerckhove

Gilbert the adventurer?
Kind of, according to the one page story about me in China Daily:
7 May 2013 – Adventure advocate
By Xu Lin ( China Daily)
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/life/2013-05/07/content_16481357_3.htm
See the pics of the interview:
https://blog.strategy4china.com/?p=4527
China Daily was professional enough to send me the draft, allowing me to correct some mistakes (some kinda big…). The only errors they made: my name spelled wrong (van instead of Van, happens a lot but they had my business cards…), and the name of Sun Bin (not Bing…).
All in all they did a good job 🙂

One more China Daily interview

Posted on by Gilbert Van Kerckhove

Today in my office, I went through a two hours interview with China Daily. Pictured are (Ms) Xu Lin (reporter) and Kuang Linhua (Photo editor).


I guess the article will soon come out in the series “My Chinese Dream”.
Cross fingers what they will make out of my many comments…

Gilbert comments on biking issues in China Daily

Posted on by Gilbert Van Kerckhove

My letter was published, see:
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/opinion/2013-02/27/content_16259243.htm
Don’t forget us cyclists, 27 February:
(China Daily 02/27/2013 page 9)
I applaud all the efforts being made to expand the subway and bus networks in Beijing. It is an important contribution to improve Beijing’s air quality. However, too little attention is paid to cyclists like me.
The city is putting a total of 50,000 rental bikes on the streets, but we cyclists are considered second class citizens.
Cars obstruct the bike lanes, and pedestrians love to walk in the lanes while they have all the space on the side walks.
People have a total disregard for us and if we complain we get very angry remarks. When will the police and the authorities act to guarantee the cyclists’ interests?
Gilbert, via e-mail
Now if only someone would do something about it…