See the earlier posting.
Interesting findings, looking at readers from the most varied corners of the world. Top hits in pages viewed are by China, USA, Belgium and many European countries plus a variety of exotic locations. No details to protect confidentiality.
Some conclusions:
1. The power of Google is surprising. I hardly post an entry and it is already scanned by Google as I can see how people get to the blog.
2. People you expect (hope) to read the blog are less likely to read and even less likely to post a comment: family (worst) & friends – to keep in touch and give the latest news with pics; and business contacts (see further).
3. Readers seem reluctant (or just lazy?) to register and post a comment. As some went smoothly through the process it proves it is not that complicated.
4. Comments posted are subject to my approval. Really needed: spammers succeed in sending comments without registering (I still have to look into this, how one can avoid it). You will not find here unwanted ads for medicine and on-line casinos – they are promptly deleted. Genuine comments are normally checked within 24 hours.
5. Interesting to find out what surfers are looking for. The more spicy, the better, so I’ll omit the details. Middle Eastern countries have a weak spot for “sexy massage Beijing” but they are not alone. I learned a lot – how to include words that generate Google hits.
6. Most visitors are non-Chinese, confirming again how (Mainland) Chinese surf and what they are interested in. China has presently about 123 million people online (200 million expected by 2010) with close to 50 million broadband users. But when you closely look at their surfing behavior (there are some good surveys!), the potential of the Internet is poorly explored: most are young people interested in games, (Chinese) chat/blogs and some saucy pieces of news. Little of in-depth research. Not to be surprised then when it is hard to find staff here who can surf and search for business information: they all claim to be very good but most are poor in PC skills. So, the impact of the Internet in China somehow is still questionable when seen through western eyes. I cannot blame too much the authorities on clamping down on Internet cafe use by youngsters: they mostly play games till they drop. (And sometimes drop dead too). Internet addiction afflicts 2 million out of a total of 18.3 million kids under 18 – they represent 15% of the  123 million netizens (according to the China Communist Youth League).
7. Business executives surf much less than expected. Some even don’t know what is a blog and many never look up websites. Maybe some are simply too busy, others are not yet familiar with the Internet age. Pity because the Internet has really become an incredible tool.
It also raises the big question: what do people still read? Newspapers are becoming less popular. On the other hand, the quality of most newspapers has gone downhill – except for a few like the IHT. Who still reads books? How to reach the audience you target?
At least I know “my audience” a bit better and will adapt the blog. I am still not 100% happy with the layout but did not see much better in other blogs. Even the editor’s blog of the China Economic Review uses the same layout.
Suggestions are always welcome but I am not expecting too much here 😉

I see here an endless coming and going of ministers, presidents and celebrities. Belgium being a huge country we of course are blessed with a never ending amount of ministers coming to China (As far as I know, Belgium has more ministers than China, or?)
It was nice to meet again Jean-Luc Dehaene who came as a member of a EU parliamentary delegation. On 22 November I joined him in his visit to BOCOG, the exhibition hall with the Olympic scale models and the National Stadium in the Olympic Green. We also had a private meeting to review the project of the famous Brussels artist Olivier Strebelle.

Note (1): Chairman of the Delegation for Relations With the PRC – European Parliament
Note (2): Vice Chairman
It is the second time I meet him, on 5 November 1998 I had the pleasure of chairing a dinner in Shanghai in his honor when I was the president of the Belgian Luxembourg Business Association. At that time, Jean-Luc Dehaene was Prime Minister of Belgium and he at least can be counted as one of the nice politicians to receive here.

He came after Lionel Jospin who visited my office in Shanghai on 25 September 1998, together with French ministers and the then Shanghai vice mayor Chen Liangyu (now under house arrest for corruption…).

Jospin went straight to my office, made himself comfortable and kicked everybody out to have a conversation with Alstom’s president Pierre Bilger (yeah, asking him if that crazy Gilbert really was getting the project of Shanghai metro Line 3). All in all, he was nice too.
Note here: (www.answers.com): “Formerly one of France’s top business leaders, Pierre Bilger stepped down earlier than planned from his post as chairman of the international, French-based ALSTOM engineering conglomerate. Under his stewardship, the once-giant company eventually found itself on the brink of bankruptcy.” – “ALSTOM’s board awarded Bilger a EUR 4.1 million severance payout that many called a “reward for failure.” The payout enraged French investors, most of who blamed the company’s collapse on Bilger’s ambition and reckless leadership.” – “On August 14, 2003, in an entirely unprecedented move, Bilger sent a letter to his successor stating that he would return the payout—the first time an executive had returned a payout to a French corporation.”
I have (of course) my own point of view on that. And not so positive. Maybe Bilger and Chen Liangyu could sit together and compare notes on raising stars that fall deep.

Julong Garden where we stay has a typical poor Chinese management. Totally hopeless. They constantly repair stuff everywhere without a clue so it has to be repaired again the next year. They spent money on painting the rain drain pipes. As it turns out, they chose cheap paint not suitable for the zinc pipes so after some months it starts peeling off. Ugly, would be better not painting at all. I can guess some people make a business out of it.
In 2004 we even had a revolt in the compound, many owners tried to bring in a new management and it turned out real ugly. Two management teams were here at the same time, the “security guards” facing each other so the riot police was brought in. Of course, the original management has its “friends” in the police (need I explain why???) who supported them as the management had warned and it all ended in frustration and status quo. Of course, as usual the “Chinese side” has mountains of excuses, lame as usual, such as that the case even went to court. Not even worth commenting on.
Foreign real estate management have lots to do here.


Some pics of the rallies, confrontations, nicely supported by the useless “police” (coming in several vans), one was shooting a movie about the “disturbance” and we both ended up with our own little confrontation. Don’t be surprised and confused: police and security teams all look alike with their uniforms.
Tenants here have no rights. Just pay, shut up and continue with the bad service. Plain corruption, must be one more of the sources of all those nice cars driving around in Beijing, thanks to foreigners being milked, from day one through grossly inflated sales prices for the biggest junk apartments, badly designs, badly built, badly maintained up to the extent it would make a nice case study. Not to wonder that most tenants (like us) just brake down the buildings to the concrete structure and then start again from scratch: the compound is a continuous construction site. We actually “invented” chimneys here: there were none, so ventilation of the kitchen, bathroom, toilet piping etc. was going nowhere (read: smell it everywhere). After I argued for many months, my super engineer Sun agreed to drill the concrete ceiling and install piping plus chimney. Voila, we have the best and biggest chimney. Others saw and copied.

Well at least they now admit they are satanic. This compound is “foreigner” but they even lack the good sense to ask some to check their nonsense posters.