Article,
China News - Plus...a Heavy Summer Reading List!
Magazine Publishers of America, (20070802)
Abstract
Plus...a Heavy Summer Reading List!
It is summer and the silly season, even in China. Word is that China
will be selling Panda poop as souvenirs, perhaps a step-up from the
pet rock craze that gripped America decades ago.
In China one can never be sure of the source or the finished product.
Did anyone not expect that China would jump on the Harry Potter craze,
even before the last book appeared in the U.S.? The New York Times
reported that “The iterations of Potter fraud and imitations here
(in Shanghai) are, in fact, so copious they must be peeled back layer
by layer. There are books, like the phony seventh novel, that masquerade
as works written by Ms. Rowling. There are copies of genuine items,
in both English and Chinese, scanned, reprinted, bound and sold for
a fraction of the authorized texts.”
Potter imitations are published under the imprint of major Chinese
houses who claims no knowledge. Chinese writers piggyback on the
success of the series with their own inventions that are in turn
knocked-off by their compatriots. The NYT estimates at least a dozen
unauthorized Potter titles in the China market, a number sure to
go up as ingenious Chinese writers wed their own mythologies to the
Potter tale. Howard W. French concludes that “here, the global Harry
Potter publishing phenomenon has mutated into something altogether
Chinese: a combination of remarkable imagination and startling industriousness,
all placed in the services of counterfeiting, literary fraud and
copyright violations.”
As with the wave of food contamination, Chinese authorities will likely
hold some offenders publicly accountable. There will be raids, arrests
and probably some book burnings, another occasional and largely symbolic
gesture in adherence to copyright law. For China coverage I’ve come
to rely on the Wall Street Journal. A recent front-page article in
the Journal explored why the highways leading to Beijing’s international
airport—known as China’s Golden Avenue and famous for its billboards,
is suddenly without them.
Apparently the billboards too blatantly underscored China’s rampant
consumerism which, when too boldly displayed, too loudly advertises
the growing gulf between rich and poor in the People’s Republic of
China. Or, could it be, as the WSJ notes, that the city wanted to
establish a bidding system for signage along the Golden Avenue and
perhaps even at thousands of bus stops, on buses, in elevators and
on bulletin boards. Whatever the reason, companies such as Focus
Media, which has 100,000 video screens in and around corporate towers,
has seen its business grow 76% over last year.
In China it’s best to be quiet about things even when they are in
plain view. The Chinese government just announced a $3 billion investment
in the Blackstone Group, a first of its kind. The symbolic taking-down
of airport billboards will not likely have much of an effect on business.
Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp. will take MySpace to China with Murdoch’s
wife at the helm. IDG and China Broadband Capital will finance MySpace
China. China has been eager for companies to invest in museums and
theater infrastructure and logistics, which keeps foreigners away
from the content game. Now IMAX Corporation has announced plans to
install an IMAX theater in the Daqing Science and Technology Museum.
The company already has eleven theaters in China with plans for another
twenty eight by 2008.
China invites so much coverage because there is so much to cover,
literally. And even with the welter of regulations the government
imposes, the rules are not always in plain sight. The state is very
fussy about advertising content. For example, advertisers can’t suggest
comparisons, ranking one product over another. This inferred superiority
can’t even be suggested symbolically, with over product hovering
over another. A Japanese car manufacturer caught the wrath of the
government when the ad suggested the product superior to anything
Chinese. Of course, Japan’s brutal treatment of the Chinese during
World War II was the unstated subtext. But this is the China landscape.
On the other hand the state doesn’t worry too much about the blurring
of advertising and media content, as long as there is no implied
criticism of the government and what it holds dear. The WSJ reports
that WPP, the media buying group and the producers of “American Idol”
and state-owned Hunan TV, a provincial satellite broadcaster will
produce a reality show seeking China soccer stars. The “Soccer Prince”
will look for two Chinese players who can join two English Premier
League soccer teams. The development signals a shift away from traditional
advertising in China that is fast becoming a cluttered marketplace.
The Journal notes that even though China has so many television channels
(2,000 offered by 600 government broadcasters) there is not much
variety in the content. In turn traditional advertising has less
effect, so advertisers and agencies are turning to other ways to
build brands. Given the generally low quality of programming in China,
sponsored content is finding an audience. But Chinese consumers are
very savvy, and likely to notice the blurring of content lines.
A lot of eyes are on Murdoch’s purchase of Dow Jones. Other eyes are
watching his alliance with China Mobile, a state-owned company that
is the world’s largest mobile operator reaching almost 500 million
mobile users. We might still be debating in the U.S. whether mobile
can be an important part of the marketing mix.
Not in China.
Some Heavy Summer Reading
_________________________
Harvard Business Review (www.hbr.org/), June 2007. “Scorched Earth:
Will Environmental Risks in China Overwhelm Its Opportunities.” A
sober reminder for investors in China to factor in environmental
issues when developing corporate strategy.
China Trade (www.chinatrademag.com/) a new, bi-monthly title focusing
on trade and investment in China.
IT and the East: How China and India are Altering the Future of Technology
and Innovation, from the Harvard Business School Press (www.hbspress.org/).
Perhaps the most interesting part of the book is the listing of possible
scenarios for China (Isolation/Protectionism, Entrepreneurial, China
Inc) and comparable scenarios for India.
