Christophe Bacon

This is the website of Christophe Bacon, COO and co-founder of TheCreator.ME. Prior to founding TheCreator.ME, Christophe was International Operations Director at myfab.com and before then, he was a one of the founders of Markeshot and a founding member of Sophus3. In a prior life, Christophe worked in consulting and international business development for Urban Science and Genasys.

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This is too cool to consider moving it: "Xiaolian: Chinese man grows new nose for transplant on his forehead."

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Pollution in northern China has shaved residents’ life expectancy by an average of 5.5 years

China wears down, well, this time literally: Pollution in northern China has shaved residents’ life expectancy by an average of 5.5 years. http://goo.gl/mag/wl2UqA6

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China's "leftover women"

  Very good feature by the BBC on the social stigma inflicted on urban and educated women who are older than 27 and still single. They are called "sheng nu", the "leftover women". 

  Whilst some single women enjoy their independence, for others the social pressure is real and is also on the parents. It is very common to meet and hear young professional women in China talk about the pressure they get from family, friends and the overall society to get married, and with the right man. 

Dating sites, blind dates, classifieds and match-making organised by the parents are the norm and on the rise.

Not to mention the most colourful method used by some parents who meet in public parks and squares advertising and bartering their child just like you would do at a carboot sale. 

  "Ever since 2007, the state media have aggressively disseminated this term in surveys, and news reports, and columns, and cartoons and pictures, basically stigmatising educated women over the age of 27 or 30 who are still single," says Leta Hong-Fincher, an American doing a sociology PhD at Tsinghua University in Beijing.

  Read the full article here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-21320560

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Chinese WoW Player Sleeps With Guild Members “For the Alliance”

A machiavellian plot of a Chinese gamer where his online life merges with his offline world. Read the post on Tech in Asia: Chinese WoW Player Sleeps With Guild Members “For the Alliance” http://goo.gl/mag/bMG0Hek

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China's Smaller Cities Are Home to Growing Middle Class

Harvard Business Review has a nice piece on China's economic growth and market potential laying in internal consumption from the middle-class growing outside the top-tier cities. "... urbanization is one of the most powerful transformative economic forces in China today." "But the distribution of China's urban population is vastly different from that of many other nations, with the majority of that population located in midsize cities ranging between 500,000 and 5 million people. Typically, and perhaps not surprisingly, U.S. and European companies entering China have focused on the cities of Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou. But we tell them that this is a mistake. There are pockets of wealth all across the country, and the wealth is spreading deep into the country's western provinces." Read more here: http://blogs.hbr.org/cs/2013/01/chinas_smaller_cities_are_home.html

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On other news: Gamers hired by father to 'kill' son in online games

A man in China hired virtual "assassins" to hunt down his son in online video games and kill off his avatar, according to local media. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-20931304

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"I’m leaving China and it doesn’t mean a thing."

Excellent, fair and spot on post by Will Moss @Imagethief "I’m leaving China and it doesn’t mean a thing.": http://bit.ly/ROjWVs An honest angle that others like Mark Kitto could have taken in their much publicised posts.

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China, trust and innovation.

In China We (Don’t) Trust

Excellent and spot-on piece from Thomas L. Friedman on the NYT where he wonders:

"How is it that a people who invented papermaking, gunpowder, fireworks and the magnetic compass suddenly only became capable of assembling iPods? I'm wondering if what’s missing in China today is not a culture of innovation but something more basic: trust."

Thomas is definitely right in pointing that it isn't lack of creativity or talent but building trust that China needs to succeed at creating innovative products and solutions for the global market. A phenomenon that has already started in the Chinese market itself.

Design and innovation is the obvious and natural next step for Chinese manufacturers and entrepreneurs. Businesses are smartening up and signs of such change are visible in industries such as IT but also architecture and fashion.

The Chinese start-ups that I am coming across, at Chinaccelerator, in Beijing or Shanghai, and the Chinese designers that we are meeting at TheCreator.ME are not lacking of innovation. Some are bold and ambitious, and most if not all have a commercial sense that you don't always find in the West.

Thomas believes that the internet and online trusted marketplaces like Alibaba will help in building trust and drastically change the international workforce.

"The creation of global trusted business frameworks like Alibaba is starting to enable a new generation of Chinese innovators — who are low cost, but high skilled — to extend their reach. We’ve seen cheap labor out of China; now we’re going to see more cheap genius."

Combined with access to the huge mass-production capability, such cheap creative and innovative Chinese workforce will, for sure, make a real the impact on businesses that have succeeded in keeping a competitive advantage with design and innovation. It's only a matter of time.

You can read Thomas Friedman article here: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/12/opinion/friedman-in-china-we-dont-trust.html

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China's online marketplace, DangDang and Amazon

Insightful post on China's current online marketplace and the hyped up Dangdang (NYSE: DANG) on Australi's Finance 9 MSN; including interesting info on Amazon's growth in the country.

"Amazon first knocked on China’s door in 2004, when it acquired joyo.com for US$75 million. With five years of experience and invaluable cultural wherewithal, joyo.com was the perfect stepping stone for this online giant.

Amazon has since expanded its Chinese warehouses from 14,000 square metres to 400,000. Its name has also changed, first to “Joyo Amazon” in 2007 and then “Amazon China” last year. With less than a decade on the ground, Amazon China currently accounts for 2.3% of all retail sales in China."

Read the full post here: http://finance.ninemsn.com.au/newsbusiness/motley/8533332/amazons-chinese-threat

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China wears you out

A friend sent me this post from Mark Kitto on Prospect Magazine on why he is leaving China, the country he loved, and lived in for 16 years: You'll never be Chinese. Why I'm leaving the country I loved.

A well-written, genuine and fair account of his experience in China and the concerns that led Mark and his family to make such a bittersweet decision.

An interesting read that will resonate among foreigners living in China.

I have been in China for just about 3 years, and I wonder how long it will take before China wears me out. 16 years for Mark sounds like a pretty good ride, with many stories to tell his grand-children. That seems to be good enough to me for a life-changing experience.

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BBC journalist discovers China's Tencent in Romford Essex

Rory Cellan-Jones, Technology correspondent at the BBC, goes to Romford in Essex to visit China's Tencent Olympic studio. 

Despite the slightly patronizing tone and video, Rory concludes: "With Chinese companies gaining huge audiences who are rapidly growing accustomed to sophisticated homegrown services, we may have to look to Shanghai, not Silicon Valley, for the next social media sensation." or just as well to Beijing or Shenzhen in the case of Tencent. 

Read the full article and watch the video here.

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...the paradox of chinese studying abroad.

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Watch Jon Stewart's interesting, and fun, interview with economist Dambisa Moyo.

Introducing her latest book "Winner Take All" she explains how, unlike many other developed countries, China is doing the right thing investing, providing technical support and developing infrastructures to exploit resources in developing countries instead of providing aid. A "win-win" strategy that China has also started applying in some developed countries.

She believes that such strategy will not only allow China to win the race for resources and secure its stability and supremacy, but also to set state-capitalism as a sound model for developing countries.

You can find more info on Dambisa Moyo and her bio here. 

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Better get used to it.

Chinese Brands To Open Stores In The UK http://www.psfk.com/2012/07/chinese-brands-uk-stores.html

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Moments in China, Ryan Emond. Beautiful timelapse and video shots, fascinating China.

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Meet Yi Ling. At the age of 84 she is being billed as China's oldest transsexual, after finally making her decision, just three years ago, to submit to a life-long yearning to live as a woman.

via BBC