Featured Articles

China Business. I FEEL "The Second Wave."

Dan Harris
October 15, 2008 07:43

As a lawyer, I usually deal in facts, not feelings, but I've been pontificating about a feeling for the last few weeks, based mostly on an accumulation of facts and past experiences. The feeling I am getting is that Chinese companies are getting more sophisticated/businesslike/global. They are...

China: Find Me That Factory!

Dan Harris
November 19, 2008 08:46

There is an old joke about a United Nations family planning conference. A leader up front, trying to scare people about overpopulation, exclaims how there is a woman giving birth somewhere in the world every 3 seconds. A jokester at the back of the room stands up and says, "find me that woman!" I...

China Supplier Agreements. With Apologies To Kansas.

Dan Harris
July 14, 2011 15:08

When foreign companies call to have us draft their Chinese supplier agreements (a/k/a OEM Agreements), we explain their basic points, usually consisting of the following: 1. We usually like the official version to be in Chinese. If something goes wrong, they usually will need to be enforced in a...

Blawg Review #162

Dan Harris
June 02, 2008 17:31

I hear that sometimes Satan comes as a man of peace. Bob Dylan, Man of Peace "I am a man of peace." Kwai Chang Caine, Kung Fu, Episode 8 "Peace lies not in the world...but in the man who walks the path." Master Po, Kung Fu, Episode 8 When I took on this task of writing Blawg Review #162, I received...

Sexism In China. A Good Thing For Foreign Business?

Dan Harris
December 16, 2010 13:28

Had an interesting lunchtime discussion the other day with two very dynamic international entrepreneurs on global prejudices. Both told me of how they "take advantage" of it. These two take advantage of it by hiring women, the disabled, and ethnic minorities in countries where other businesses are...

Foreign Businesses In China And Illegality Per Se

Dan Harris
July 02, 2008 11:04

When I would judge mock trials at the University of Washington Law School. One of the things on which I always criticized the lawyers-to-be was for talking like a lawyer. I would ask if they described a guy getting out of a car as "a person descending from a vehicle" and before they started law...

China's New Labor Law: Results Still To Be Determined

Dan Harris
June 30, 2008 06:33

Yale Online just came out with a very thorough and objective article on China's new labor law. The article, entitled, "An Uncertain Victory for China’s Workers," is written by Lyle Morris, of China Economist Magazine. This article gives sets forth a very plausible analysis of the cost impact of the...

China In America. Newton, Iowa, Edition.

Dan Harris
September 25, 2011 11:48

Just spent the last day and a half in the heart of Iowa. Though I was there to be on a bunch of panels at Grinnell College, parents weekend there necessitated that I spend my nights in the neighboring town of Newton, Iowa. Newton has a population of about 15,000 and it is known for being the former...

Law As China Social Change Agent. I'm Getting Emotional.

Dan Harris
October 15, 2010 12:48

When I was just beginning as a lawyer, one of my clients complained that she had the sense I was not 100% convinced of the merits of her company's case. She was obviously troubled by this and so I was troubled by it too. I went to a senior partner and explained the situation with the slant that I...

Recent Articles

The End Of Cheap China. What Does It Mean, Anyway?

Dan Harris
March 22, 2012 13:23

Since we started this blog back in 2006, we wrote of how you should expect and prepare for China wages and other prices to rise. In our very first month, way back in January, 2006, in a post entitled, “China is Booming, Go There for Growth,” we warned of rising China prices: This...