West Highland Way in Balmaha (Photo credit: abernmf1)

Taliesen West from Taliesen Overlook (Photo credit: Al_HikesAZ)

Sunset of the Forbidden City, Beijing (northwest cornor of the Forbidden City) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Visit to the Russian Pavilion at the 2010 World Expo. With Vice President of China Xi Jinping and Russian coordinator of the Skolkovo Innovation Centre project Viktor Vekselberg. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Flag of the Chinese Communist Party 贛語: 中國共產黨黨旗 한국어: 중국공산당당기 / 中國共產黨黨旗 lzh: 中國共產黨之黨旗 Português: Bandeira do Partido Comunista da China Русский: Флаг Коммунистической партии Китая Tiếng Việt: 黨旗黨共産中國 / Đảng kỳ Đảng Cộng sản Trung Quốc 粵語: 中國共產黨黨旗 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Emblem of Communist Party of China defined in the Party’s Constitution (2002), Article 51. (The Golden version for red background) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

With Vice President of the People’s Republic of China Xi Jinping. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

linkedin (Photo credit: Inmobiliaria Lares, Cangas)

Big Idea 2014: China & The West Finally Connect

This post is part of a series in which LinkedIn Influencers pick one big idea that will shape 2014. See all the ideas here.

In 2014, we stop focusing on the differences between China and the West, and instead start truly to connect.

There are four reasons why this is going to happen:

(1) The New Chinese Regime Has Shifted

The new Chinese regime, led by President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Keqiang, is more business-friendly, and is trying to end abuses involving corruption, intellectual property theft and fraud.

The pro-business stance has been praised by Western CEOs including WPP’s Sir Martin Sorrell. He recently commented, “So, the Chinese government, which I have the highest respect for… if you see the new policies that the 18th plenum has just put in, this all goes very well for the Chinese economy in terms of leadership, direction, attention to detail, the change in the one child policy, is much appreciated. I think it will be a strong stimulant to growth along with the other performers, whether they be in services, social security or even land reform. Their attention to detail is almost unparalleled in the world. I’m very bullish on that.”

For a long time, Chinese businesses have understandably focused on the massive domestic opportunity, but now more of them are looking West and going global. For instance, Fosun is trying to buy the Rockefeller building, while my friend Huang Nubo, chairman of Zhongkun Group, has made a stir with his plan to buy 300 square kilometers of land in Iceland and build a golf resort.

(2) Westerners Are Now Looking To The Opportunity

For more and more Western companies, China has moved from being a bet into the future into a priority for growth for their overall business. Western companies have found the road to China hard – typically start with an export approach, bring a local in, and hope for a third time lucky. In 2014, I predict that more Western companies will get lucky. For instance, Apple will finally strike that elusive deal with China Mobile, enabling it to sell the iPhone and gain access to the world’s largest network of 740 million subscribers.

Such business deals will be accelerated by improving diplomatic relations. The mood during Xi Jinping’s meeting with President Obama, at the Sunnylands estate in California in June 2013, was better than during previous encounters with Hu Jintao. Professor Di Dongsheng, vice director at Beijing’s Renmin Center for China’s Foreign Strategy Studies, told TIME Managing tthat the Chinese public was “warm and optimistic” about the meeting, adding, that in Xi Jinjing, “This time, we have a new leader who is more confident, mature and natural than his predecessors,” and that ordinary people hoped to stem the negativity that had developed over recent years.

Chinese state media went further, with a Global Times editorial calling it a “milestone” meeting that offered a “glimpse of what China’s future might look like when it catches up with the U.S.” It added that the West is growing more accustomed to China’s new standing and no longer considers Beijing policies “dreadful”, to use the language of perceived affronts from the past.

Relations have also improved with the UK, which were strained when prime minister David Cameron met the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama in May 2012. Hong Kong’s South China Morning Post noted that Cameron left “contentious human rights issues on the sidelines” when overseeing the signing of £5.6bn worth of business deals with Chinese Premier Li Keqiang during a trade visit last week.

(3) Cultural Exchange – East Pushes West

In 2012 we went ‘Gangnam Style’ with the breakout South Korean pop hit, 2013 was the year of the “selfie”, and, in 2014, I predict that many more Eastern influences will impact our music, food and popular culture.

Over the next decade, China’s middle class will top 600 million, and it’s no great surprise that several Western brands are doing well in China. KFC is the country’s most popular restaurant chain and a Buick is the top-selling car. Chinese enjoy premier luxury brands – from Burberry to Paul Smith; and high quality entertainment – from James Bond to Downton Abbey.

I now expect more of a push in the other direction – for instance, movie star Jet Li and internet entrepreneur and Alibaba founder Jack Ma launching Tai Chi centers in the West.

The cross-fertilization of ideas will be led by large movements of Chinese millennials continuing to come to the West on university exchanges, and more Western children beginning to learn Mandarin rather than Spanish or French in schools. This is echoed by David Cameron, who last week said:

“I want Britain linked up to the world’s fast-growing economies. And that includes our young people learning the languages to seal tomorrow’s business deals. By the time the children born today leave school, China is set to be the world’s largest economy. So it’s time to look beyond the traditional focus on French and German and get many more children learning Mandarin.”

As Nelson Mandela once said: “If you talk to a man in a language he understands that goes to his head, if you talk to him in his own language that goes to his heart.” Many students agree. Jacob Gill, an American student at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, started learning Chinese because he was interested in Chinese culture and history, “I certainly think that learning Chinese has allowed me a different world view that shapes the way I look at culture questions and think about cultural differences.” Bilha Juma, a Kenyan student, adds, “The part that I find easy and interesting is the Chinese culture. The way the Chinese perceive life is quite amazing. They always strive to know more that is outside their culture.”

I for one have been struggling with the pleasure and the pain of learning Mandarin for the last four years, and while it’s a hard slog, I’m finally starting to get somewhere.

With more Chinese people coming to the West to study and more Western school-children and business people learning Mandarin, it’s an exchange that can’t be stopped.

(4) Bridging networks: social and face-to-face

At the top of Chinese society, the reality is that many CEOs have now earned enough money for themselves and their family, and are increasingly driven by bigger and more noble aims, such as to how to give something back to their country, society or the next generation. One of the catalysts for this shift is the China Entrepreneur Club (CEC). Founded by the visionary Lui Donghua, there is no western precedent. The CEC’s stated aim is that it is “dedicated to promoting the spirit of entrepreneurship alongside the sustainable development of the economy and society.” The best way to visualize it is as a group of Chinese CEOs, equivalent in size to the Fortune 50, who are friends, travel the world together and try to foster a collaborative spirit.

As the CEC goes global, another elite Chinese bridging network is welcoming in the West. Zhisland (Zheng He Island) is an invite-only social network, with high-net worth business leaders asked to pay a $3,000 fee in order to join. It claims to resemble, “a special fish pond in an Internet ocean, a closed-end social network of entrepreneurs who are provided with valuable information that has been carefully screened and pure ‘positive energy’ social relationships.” In 2014, it is launching the Zhisland Global Fellowship, offering a forum where the top 30 leaders from the West can meet China’s top 30, in a trusted environment.

(Disclosure: my company Xinfu, which means “trusted friend and confidant” in Chinese, is one of the launch partners.)

Beyond these trade fairs and elite business bridging networks, there is a much bigger revolution underway in social media. Last month, I wrote an article observing that Chinese internet firm Tencent has over 1bn users and is set to overtake Facebook. With Western social networks such as Twitter and Facebook blocked behind “the great firewall of China” (LinkedIn is less restricted and slowly gaining a foothold), homegrown equivalents such as Sina Weibo, RenRen and Tencent’s ‘WeChat’ have rapidly emerged to fill the gap. With distinctive and fun features like “hold-to-talk” and “shake” to discover other users in the same vicinity or around the word, WeChat is the first to go global, and it’s now virally coming across here. In just four months between May and September 2013, WeChat’s overseas users have doubled from 50m to 100m.

This is opening up the public dialog in China and forcing the public authorities to publish more data. For instance, the government has started publishing PM2.5 air quality readings in Beijing, prompted in part by Sina Weibo posts and a Twitter feed from the U.S. Embassy that reported readings from the building’s roof. Chinese people have become increasingly vocal about the quality of the environment, and hourly air quality updates are now available online for more than 70 cities.

In 2014, I expect China social media will increasingly encourage not just greater accountability, but also more free thinking. The challenge for the Chinese government will be to grow increasingly comfortable with giving up a degree of control. During a visit to Beijing last week, US Secretary Of State Joe Biden told a group applying for visas to the U.S. that “innovation can only occur where you can breathe free”, adding, “children in America are rewarded – not punished – for challenging the status quo”.

—

Jean Charest, who was Canadian prime minister from 2003-12, famously said that, “You can’t go east and west at the same time.”

I think in 2014 that all changes – with the Chinese regime shifting, Westerners seizing the unlocking opportunities, an unstoppable cultural exchange and bridges suddenly becoming effective – East and West finally connect.

For those of us who are fortunate enough to be involved in bridging between China and the West, there are not only massive business opportunities but also opportunities for massive personal development.

Photo: Author’s Own

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Stéphén Dårori ✔✔✔*****

Peter Urey

Fearless – Confidence in Sales and Strategy

…..and what about the cyber attacks, human rights and Tibet? Will all that go away on 2014?
- Like(8)
- Reply
9 hours ago
Leo W., Mark E., JaeSeung Choi, +5
Susie Zhong

Membership Manager at Association of Taxation & Management Accountants

It’s the economy that connects the world, not the politics. The East and the West become inseparable through the link of economy and business. Since China’s Opening up policy, there have been many foreign investments rushed into the mainland. The social system difference did not stop China’s growth then and it will most certainly not in the future. No matter whether we like each other or not, it is harder now to start a war against each other since destroying one country would lead to destroy the other. The recent downturn of America economy is a perfect example. The shift of focus by declaring wars against other countries rather than solving the domestic issues would not work as well as in the early twenties century It is inevitable that the East and the West have to put up with each other and develop together. Otherwise it will end up as an ugly divorce: Both will get hurt to some degree.
- Like(7)
- Reply(1)
6 hours ago
Christopher Mis, Syahirwan Taher, John Graffio, +4

1 Reply
- Kenneth Tran 2nd
  
  Tech Rebel; Class Clown; 3 AAA Titles (Mgmt); Pioneer of Freemium; Award Winning Apps; Digital Analyst; Ninja Activist
  
  That’s why I majored in Economics! 🙂
  
  Like
  
  4 hours ago
Richard Little

Designing and Engineering Hi-Fi Loudspeakers at SONOS

Jean Charest was not the PM of Canada…you’re thinking of Jean Cretien.
- Like(6)
- Reply(2)
4 hours ago
Christopher Mis, Jacob P., Nicholas Barbour, +3

2 Replies
- Christopher Mis 2nd
  
  Creative Retirement Living Executive, Focused Inspiring Leader, Effective Results Driven Sales and Training Professional
  
  Yeah that threw me for a second…
  
  Like
  
  19 minutes ago
- David Grant
  
  Project Manager at Carpedia International
  
  Am glad somebody else noticed…
  
  Like
  
  2 hours ago
Heru C.

President Director at iSDM Consulting (PT. Inti Sumber Daya Manusia)

Why article pic show a beautiful chinese female and western male? Even it might tried to show off the writer’s capability to take a picture (or to approach) with a beautiful chinese woman, it makes me curious though, I rarely find a picture which show a beautiful western female and chinese/asian male. I’m worried it become typical lately and -more or less- correlate with media/prejudice bias of western manhood. If it’s true, I think It’s quite sexism and racism.
- Like(3)
- Reply(4)
2 hours ago
Michael T., Mark E., and Vu V.

4 Replies
- Michael T.
  
  Consultant at Virtual Consulting International
  
  I agree as well, the picture had little relevance and, as a reader, it was distracting from the content. It really makes the entire thing look more like an ego boost than an attempt at a professional piece.
  
  Like
  
  16 minutes ago
- Mark E.
  
  Learning Support Specialist at the Centre for Excellence in Learning and Teaching, University of Melbourne
  
  | agree with you Heru, really what does an attractive anonymous Chinese woman have to do with the article? It just seems to perpetuate the sleazy foreigner stereotype of a middle aged guy going abroad to pump up his fragile ego by going after much younger women! At least give her a name and title…
  
  Like
  
  37 minutes ago
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Michael W.

Journalist

Mr. Tappin’s optimism must be taken with a grain of salt. Or perhaps with an entire shaker. Here are a few reasons why: — China’s business culture still is based on relationships rather than rule of law. — The government has suggested, through official publications, that the dollar should be replaced as the global reserve currency, a move that would hurt American consumers. — The Chinese military is increasingly assertive, a fact manifested most recently by the establishment of an air defense zone around the disputed Senkaka Islands. — Censors continue to restrict the content and tone of U.S. films shown in Chinese theaters. — Chinese leaders remain intransigent over Tibet. The breakthrough Mr. Tappin describes has been just around the corner for nearly two decades. I would love to see it arrive, but I’m not convinced we are there yet.
- Like(3)
- Reply
1 hour ago
Mike D., Brian Keith, and Peter Ireland
Dirk Biesinger

Co-Founder Allergen-Alarm

Interesting indeed. Especially the last paragraph under (4). I actually had to circle back to see which government Steve is talking about. I think all governments need to “grow increasingly comfortable with giving up degree of control”.
- Like(2)
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10 hours ago
Dave Borgioli and Werner Stenzig
Ilya Kozitskiy

MBA @ Grenoble Ecole de Management

How about GlaxoSmithKline sales in China decreased last 3rd quarter by 61% , Volkswagen recalled 380K cars, Tim Cook public apologies for bad customer service… & “The perception amongst foreign investors is that it is getting harder to do business here,” says Michael Crain, Beijing director of administration for law firm Bingham McCutchen, which advises international companies doing business in China. “In most of the government investigations and media exposés this year the focus has definitely been on the behaviour of foreign companies.”/FT, 4 Nov 2013/
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6 hours ago
Dave Borgioli and Neil Walsh
Richard Lindenmuth 2nd

Partner at Verto Partners LLC

Interesting. The legislation and the dialog are very important and meaningful. Outgrowing existing infrastructure is a significant barrier. One of the most amazing social development programs has been the Chinese very intelligent use of foreign investment, limited first to one provence until infrastructure was completed and then, cut off for new investment, the focus moved to the next provence. Truly unique even after watching Singapore.
- Like(2)
- Reply
6 hours ago
Paul Singh and Neil Walsh
Robert F.

Multimedia Designer (Freelance) at RainDance Technologies

I hope to be moving to China in February. I’m just waiting for my work visa application approval. The US hasn’t offered me adequate full-time employment since I was laid-off in 2009 due to Wall Street’s destruction of our economy. I have many Chinese friends from grad school, and they all said that an American can most likely make a good life in China. I visited last year, and I loved it. I met generous, friendly, often open-minded people who hope and work for a better future for everyone in their country. There’s a market for my skills in China, and I see no reason to sit around waiting for the statistic of 40% of the US workforce being temp and freelance by 2020. Obviously, China isn’t perfect, but I’ve got no more dreams left here. China is growing into its own, enlightening, and improving while the US is back-peddling into pre-Revolution France. Maybe I’ll be proven wrong, but it can’t be worse than alternating between being unemployed and under-employed here for much longer. Forcing oil spills into US citizens back yards, cutting food stamps and increasing corporate subsidies, exonerating racially-motivated murderers… how much more moral high ground does the US have? But I should probably be careful about what I say, the NSA and Homeland Security may be reading or illegally tapping my phone. It’s SO much better than in China. At the worst, I return in to the US with “Fluent in Mandarin Chinese” on my resume. Maybe that’ll get me quality full-time employment once our economies are irreparably dependent on each other. 🙂
- Like(2)
- Reply(3)
2 hours ago
Derek Yesucevitz (. and John Graffio

3 Replies
- Louise Wang
  
  Postgraduate Degree in Australian Curtin University
  
  Hi Robert, what u said is absolutely true, now China could still be a better place for foreign friends to work and live. Anyway, Chinese basicly hold this idea that foreigners can be more excellent than most of their work-place peers, so many prosperous future is waiting for ahead. Hope everything best to u in China.
  
  Like
  
  50 minutes ago
- 한웨재Jerry
  
  Sales & Marketing
  
  Have you talk to headhunter who can find a job that you are looking for?
  
  Like
  
  1 hour ago
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Megan Frazier

A Phone Call Away From Destiny

Xinfu, if I recall, is much more “trusted subordinate” than a peer level relationship.
- Like(2)
- Reply(1)
6 hours ago
Dave Borgioli and Neil Walsh

1 Reply
- Michael H.
  
  Marketing Director
  
  Ha,you’re much better at Mandarin than the author is. Though,maybe it’s exactly what he defines himself to those business leaders.
  
  Like
  
  44 minutes ago
Jamie MacDonald

Passionate people developer

One small note: Jean Charest premier of the province of Quebec will be really surprised to read that he was the Prime Minister for 9 years. I believe you were thinking of Jean Chretien.
- Like(2)
- Reply
3 hours ago
Michael Simmonds and Peter Ireland
Julia S.

Analyst at Goldman Sachs

The equality and fair play brings people together. China is building the biggest temple of the world to host capitalism/materialism. The prevail of the free capitalists in China will ignite the reform of its political system and society, follows by the Renaissance of the culture. Our greatest hope is capitalism in the long run and there is no boundary of countries for that.
- Like(1)
- Reply(1)
3 hours ago
Connie Lee

1 Reply
- Peter Ireland 2nd
  
  How to Finance (Almost) Any Startup
  
  Temple or toxic waste dump?
  
  Like(1)
  
  1 hour ago
  
  Mark E.
Leo W.

Project Quantity Surveyor at CHINA HARBOR ENGINEERING COMPANY LTD

we wont really connect with the west until our gov stop enslave our people politically and economically.
- Like(2)
- Reply
16 minutes ago
Michael H. and Derek Yesucevitz (.
Donald Wilson

Senior Partner at Dacheng Law Firm – U.S. Chairman of Entertainment and IP Department

Point 3 is especially well made and on target. As a Senior Partner in Asia’s largest law firm, I have several clients setting up manufacturing plants and offices here in the U.S. I anticipate many more to follow in the coming years.
- Like(1)
- Reply
4 hours ago
Vicki Semke
ipad H.

Director at JANSTON PtyLtd.,

Yes we are developing a simplified Music system based on the Eight note Scale or Octave whilst all of Asia use the 5 note or Pentatonic scale. So it will be East meets West, when we release the SOUNDSEZEE*(TM) “makes music easy” Scientific interactive Music Palette Apps, by Janston Pty Ltd.
- Like(1)
- Reply(1)
3 hours ago
John Graffio

1 Reply
- John Graffio 2nd
  
  IT Manager at Eco Farms USA
  
  Fascinating. Waiting to see and hear it.
  
  Like
  
  1 hour ago
Elaine Dolan

Rolfer, Social Change Advocate

Economy does connect us, and the missing link in both cultures is responsibility for the ecology.
- Like(1)
- Reply
5 hours ago
Mark E.
Jacob P.

Seeking an Internship in Legal/Compliance in Banking, Financial Services, Shipping or Natural Resources

History tells a much different story. China’s dramatic rise in the last 15 years mirrors Japan and Argentina in many ways, but both of those countries were eventually faced with a much different reality. I don’t expect much to change, and I certainly won’t rely on the advice of economists who missed out in predicting the Great Recession- your credibility is shot!
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- Reply
1 hour ago
Mike D.
Milorad-Misa Ciric

USA, Canada, China, Europe, Serbia at International marketing and trade, Economic diplomacy and international relations

BRAVO! Regards from http://www.Diasporagroup.org
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6 hours ago
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Bert Walker

Student at RCC

Are the Chinese still hacking into the Pentagon?
- Like
- Reply
5 hours ago
Neil Walsh 2nd

Communications services at Computershare – INTERESTED IN TRADING/ANALYST OR LEGAL/COMPLIANCE POSITION

Zheng He Island. Are China’s entrepreneurs symbolically looking ‘across the seas’ with this reference? Chinese culture seems to be quite symbolic, from what I see.
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5 hours ago
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