From Beijing, an unfiltered view on business and economy.
On 4 April we participated in the celebration of 56 years of independence of Senegal, in the China World Hotel.
We accompanied one of our major clients, China State Grid Group, to meet with diplomats from Senegal, where we are currently looking at projects.
In my book Toxic Capitalism I mention the vast recycling network in Beijing, some being officially sanctioned, some being done by rather mafia-like operations.
Radio France, after reading my book, invited me to explore together one of the major villages in the north of Beijing, well after the 4th ring road; the radio interview was done walking around and in the taxi on our way back.
We went on a sunny Saturday afternoon, with Philippe of Radio France and Luca as our valuable guide and translator.
I was at first not that at ease as the people in those “garbage villages” do not like foreigners nosing around. We decided not to run around with cameras in hand, though Philippe shot some good pics with his mobile, I myself made one shot of the truck piled up with carton.
The village we visited is just immense and we walked around in just a part of it. Pretty impressive how the Chinese have built a small industry in recovering and recycling anything that comes to mind: plastics of all kids, styrofoam, water containers, fire extinguishers, office carpets, mattresses, aluminum, iron, steel, electronics, batteries, wood, paper, name it. All a bit messy and dusty and we were lucky it was not windy and not raining.
BIMBA: International Programs of the National School of Development – Peking University,
Beijing International MBA (BiMBA). Every year I meet the MBA group from Vlerick Belgium for a Q&A session “All the Questions You Have About China (and you did not dare to ask)”. Usually done as a small panel, with Prof. Tony, and they last for at least 90 minutes.
At home we buy some of our bread in the Chinese supermarket, and from a Belgian baker. The two local Chinese brands have, well, a bit of colorful names: Mankattan and Wekipedia.
Despite the strange names, pretty OK otherwise. And see the picture, otherwise you might think I made it all up!
Yeah, a weird title but that was the subject for the afternoon meeting in the Embassy of Belgium on 25 March, organized by Bencham. The meeting was attended by the Ambassador Michel Malherbe and other senior staff of the embassy.
The topic was the survey, done for a second year, on the performance of the Belgian companies in China in 2013.
The survey was done by “Moore Stephens Verschelden” and their delegates Andy Verschelden and Scott Krivokopich gave us an overview.
