Expat Profile: Up-Front Analyst

Jonathan Glick works for NCIL, syndicating and underwriting  debt based investment to some of China’s biggest companies, such as China Mobile and China Telecom. Here, he shares some of his views on deal-making in China’s capital markets.

Is there big potential in China for foreign lenders to service business loans?

Income Mobility in China

In China’s olden days, as in the West’s, it took more than money to rise in class. Today, money is virtually the only measure of status, in Chongqing as surely as in Chicago. So, idealistic political arguments aside, a good measure of a country’s freedom can be found in how easily or frequently its people can transcend the income levels of their parents, communities, or peer groups.

Sifting Hope from the Rubble

There are no words to console survivors of yesterday’s 7.8 earthquake outside of Chengdu. More than ten thousand are reported dead, and at the time of this writing, the fate of 900 students trapped beneath a collapsed school building hangs in the balance. Not one in ten thousand of us has the compassion to truly grasp the devastation, not of buildings, but of souls suddenly bereft of their loved ones. So we read the latest figures, watch the latest reports, let out a sigh or soft whistle, and consign the afflicted to the same corner of our consciences as the hundreds of thousands stricken in Myanmar.

Just in Case: Wenzhou

“Wenzhou? You mean where West Lake is?”

“No. That’s Hangzhou.”

“Oh. You mean the southern industrial metropolis?”

“Nope. That’s Guangzhou.”

With so many zhous [cities] dotting China’s eastern seaboard, an expat might easily overlook Wenzhou, wen meaning “mild, pleasant”. Nothing about Wenzhou stands out to make it a must-see on a whirlwind tour of China. Nonetheless, it has much to offer the expat bent on taking advantage of China’s economic ascendancy.

Born to do Business

The Last Empress and the First Hai Gui

History has shrouded her in disapproval, but an eyewitness account of Empress Dowager Cixi reveals a tough, smart old broad who played the game of power better than any so-called man in the kingdom. Was she flighty? Sure. She grew up with status determining not just what you had for breakfast, but whether you were allowed to eat it sitting down. Furthermore, such status could be irrevocably lost by a careless act or gesture. That kind of game makes the strongest souls neurotic.

5 Uncommon Chinese Teas & Why You Should Drink Them

You seldom give it much attention, all the health-stealers in your environment and lifestyle: sooty air, brackish water, tobacco & alcohol, the stress of keeping your career on track. When you do, you take a mental note to exercise more, eat healthier, stop smoking so much, just as soon as the important stuff’s out of the way, of course.

Killing to Live

Only Americans and other cultural newbies think they’re entitled to happiness and prosperity. The Chinese, on the other hand, have long known that you don’t get something for nothing, and balance is the operative principle of cosmic destiny.

So, to ensure enough grain to sustain so many lives, something or someone had to pay the ultimate price.

Health Without Wealth

They say you can’t put a price on health – then they go ahead and make it as expensive as the market will possibly bear. Therein lies reason #917-b to love living in China; the market will bear significantly less price-gouging, even when it comes to health care.

Not so long ago, the average urban Chinese salary equaled what today’s average urban Chinese family spends at McDonald’s after junior’s English lesson. The average urban Chinese worker got a free apartment in a community built around his company, and that community included a health clinic. The clinics are still there, and since the late nineties, open to non-community members.

Ancient Chinese Strategy for Modern Chinese Life

Deception. Intrigue. Sacrificing friend and foe for victory. Such infamy defined what we now call China’s Warring States Era. Today, we don’t take ‘making a killing’ so literally, but ruthlessness is still the cardinal virtue for success, and outmaneuvering the most critical skill. Whereas today’s rap impresarios and other models of .45 caliber entrepreneurialism look to Hollywood for guidance (“First joo get da money. Den joo get da powah. Den joo get da women.”), ancient generals had The Thirty-Six Strategies.

The Five Rituals of Eternal Youth

That’s right. For taking the trouble to click on that link a moment ago, you are now going to be rewarded with the sacred rituals of eternal youth. Yet only unto the faithful is the miraculous bestowed. Do you believe that modern and ancient truths are not so very different?

It’s been more than a century since Einstein told us that matter is simply corrupted light, a multi-dimensional dance of energy fields. Still we persist in thinking of ourselves as discrete units of meat, bone, and blood. How about those seven ductless glands, the ones responsible for the secret juices which decide everything from how deep your voice is to which of your hairs turn gray first?