On 22 July 2015 I was on an environmental panel for the CHANCE program of Penn State University.
The panel was at “Caravan”, said to be the only Moroccan restaurant in Beijing. Afterwards we had dinner in Da Wan Ju (Chongwenmen location), a well-known restaurant specialized in Beijing cuisine. (and than the rain came when I rode back on my bike!)

Members  of the panel were also: Matthew Collins of the Institute of Public and Environmental Affairs (IPE); Andrew Buck, Urban Planner and Designer at Turenscape; (Ms.) Wu Hua, DADA Architecture International Design, Founder and Architecture And Urban Planning Designer.
The group of students was very well aware of environmental issues in China, making the discussion very lively and interesting. Very nice initiative indeed.

We are in between two New Year celebrations: our 1 January and the upcoming Chinese New Year on 8 February 2016.
Time to reflect on where we stand and what we can expect.
Read here our latest newsletter (in PDF) on looking forward to the new 2016 as well as looking back.

Outlook 2016

The full version with more details is available on request.
Feel free to comment here or by getting back to me directly.

The season of seminars to overseas MBA groups is coming to an end, things could pick up again in September.
It was an interesting springtime with pretty different groups to talk to, all of them having their own focus and interests.
I mostly give a very personal introduction on what China is today, unfiltered and direct, also covering the multitude of severe challenges China is facing today. I often have to answer the question: are you optimistic or not? My reply is: I am indeed worried as many others are but overall I am more optimist than pessimist. The proof: I just “repatriated” to Beijing a 40 ft container with personal belongings, so I intend to stay for a while more…

The pics:
– Sunday 17 May 2015: MBA Wagner Group (The Netherlands) – group of 15 including Philip Wagner, in Duge Boutique Hotel. Additional topic was health care in China, for a group of company medical doctors from Holland. Our Rotaractor Sophie kindly joined us to answer some more questions on healthcare.
– Monday 25 May 2015 in Capital Normal University: 14 students of Westfield State University (USA).
– Friday 19 June 2015: CASS Business School of London MBA (35 students), in Hotel New Otani Chang Fu Gong Beijing. Organized as usual by Legacy Ventures (UK).
– Saturday 27 June 2015: Panel with Tony Liu for Saint Mary’s College of California MBA, in ARIVA Beijing West Hotel. Organized by the National School of Development at Peking University, Beijing International MBA at Peking University (BiMBA)