China law -- get a china lawyer. Same with Mexico

Why is China Cheaper? Truths and Myths

Got an email from an attorney/client/friend yesterday with a link to an IndustryWeek Article (Why Is China Cheaper?) and a note saying that I needed to give this “CLB’s dumbest article of the month award.” We do not actually have such an award (should we?) so for that reason alone, it is not in contention.

Digital manufacturing

How to Find the Right Manufacturer AND Get Good Product

A new client of ours from Spain recently sent us an article and asked whether it made “good sense” for both China and Mexico. My response was, “yes, it most certainly does ” The article [link no longer exists] nicely lays out the following “surefire steps to ensure you work with a factory that can

US Corporate Transparency Act (CTA)?

Foreign Company Ethical Issues in China

David Wofl at Silicon Hutong just did a post on ethical issues in China, Business Ethics and Culture Clashes in China and I love it for three reasons. First, it is very well written. Second, it imparts useful advice. Third, it says many of the things we repeatedly preach on this blog. In fact, replace

China Reverse Mergers

China Reverse Mergers: Good Luck with That

The big story in the China business/legal community this week is the back and forth between Muddy Waters and Sino-Forest (see here).I will reserve my comments on the specific situation until things develop further, but I will add my two-cents about something called a “Reverse Merger” or “RTO,” the corporate structure at the center of

Best books on China

The Best Books on China

About a week ago, I did an article, The Five+ Best Books for Understanding China  [link no longer exists]. The article was a public response to a  request that I reveal “3-5 good books to read to understand China that are contemporary, but also something providing some historical perspective to current doings.” I listed the

eating dog in China

Eating Dogs in China

Earlier this year, I was on a slow highway on the outskirts of Hanoi when my daughters said something like “look at those dogs being prepared for eating. Eewww.” Without looking, (and thinking they were referring to live dogs in cages) I tried to put the best spin on things for my 13-year old by

China ready International lawyers

Publicly Traded Chinese Companies are Risky as Hell

Muddy Waters is a hedge fund company that targets dodgy US-listed Chinese companies, shorts them, and then documents the fraud in which those Chinese companies engage. Muddy Waters has an impressive list of Chinese companies it has exposed, including China Media Express, Duoyuan Water and RINO International. These companies appear to have two things in

International arbitration

China Litigation Basics

In Evidence Collection and Alternatives to “Discovery” in P.R.C. Litigation, China Law Insight discusses the lack of pretrial discovery in China court cases and why American companies and lawyers tend to be so ill-prepared for this. To grossly summarize and oversimplify the article, foreign (especially American) companies need to know the following three things about

China Joint Venture problems

Fellowes Brought to its Knees in China: Blame the Joint Venture?

Fascinating article by Matthew Robertson, Fellowes, American Stationary Giant, Brought to Its Knees in China. A couple of readers sent me the article and both commented on how it proves what “you are always saying about Chinese joint ventures.” I am not so sure it does. The article is about Fellowes, one of the leading