Clients often ask our China lawyers whether their buyers in China are telling the truth when they claim not to be able to pay them more than $50,000 in one year. The answer is both yes and no. China controls inbound and outbound foreign exchange flows. If a Chinese citizen or company needs to make
One of the many things that makes suing Chinese companies and individuals difficult is the requirement that service be done according to the Hague Convention on Service Abroad of Judicial and Extrajudicial Documents in Civil and Commercial Matters, to which China is a party. Service of an entity or person in China under the Hague
American businessperson held in China for his company's unpaid debt Yet another story of an American businessperson held in China for his company's unpaid debt. Hate to say we told you so, but we told you so. This latest debt-hostage story was brought to my attention by Jeremiah Jenne. Jeremiah asked me about it by
Danwei ran a story, University Diploma Scandal in Jinan [link no longer exists], on a fake Chinese university. This story is directly relevant for those doing business in China. Let me explain. The story is from the Jinan Times. Jinan is the capital of Shandong Province. I have been there a couple of times and
One of the most common calls our China lawyers get is the one from someone saying they want to "start a business in China." The first thing we do with that sort of caller is to seek to ascertain whether a China business is actually necessary. Forming and then operating a business entity in China
Got an email from a client with a link to a list of Chinese manufacturers to avoid. The list is described as an extensive list of companies that scam their customers or mishandle their orders, built up over the last few years. The client wanted to know what I thought of this list. I told
One of our clients recently asked for our help "making sure" it could get a U.S. visa for one of its China-based Chinese managers. The client wanted this manager to come to the United States for two months of training. Our client had heard from a friend in a similar situation that it was "getting
When we first started this blog way back in 2006, we would constantly write how if you want to protect your IP in China, you have to register your IP in China. Our thesis was (and is) that if you don't bother registering your IP in China, you really have no right to complain about
Just read a CNN article, When will workers share in Apple's wealth? This article was written by Scott Nova, executive director of the Worker Rights Consortium, a "labor rights-monitoring organization that investigates working conditions in factories around the world." Nova attacks Apple on many fronts in his article, but it is the following that really
The following is a guest post by Jonathan Poston. Though learning Chinese is obviously helpful for doing business in or with China, actually accomplishing this can be so difficult that many give up or just ponder whether it is worth it. I asked Jonathan to write a post on the pros and cons of learning
