Political analyst and academic Kerry Brown explains that the Opening up and Reform has led to legitimise China’s political leadership

December 2018 will mark a big moment in China’s calendar of anniversaries of major events. Around 20^th December 1978, increasingly influenced by the veteran leader Deng Xiaoping, but officially under the Chairman’s chosen successor Hua Guofeng, a newly reinvigorated (for the second time) post-Mao era leadership declared that Communist members needed to liberate their minds. They needed to make practice the sole criterion for truth. They needed to embrace the Four Modernisations of industry, agriculture, science and technology, and defence, and accelerate the development of their massive, but still largely rural, agrarian and backward country. The era of reform and opening up had started.

Just as we still live in the Western era of later modernity, so China still lives in the period that started after the 1978 meeting and its declaration. For all the talk of Xi Jinping being a uniquely powerful and ambitious leader, he made his commitment to the Dengist vision of reform clear from his first weeks in power in 2012, when he visited Shenzhen to signal his complete alignment with the Deng consensus. This southern city bordering Hong Kong figures as one of the holy sites of the reform era, a place of almost spiritual significance.

It was here that the most important of the early Special Economic Zones was set up, pioneering the export-orientated, manufacturing model that was to be the initial impetus that led to the immense growth achievements of the following four decades. If one place can symbolise the renaissance of China, then Shenzhen is it, transformed from a small fishing town to a major modern city with some of the world’s tallest buildings. This place is Chinese reform made flesh, the realisation of the ambitions for modernity which had been dreamed about by the Chinese for over a century, but which finally seemed to become reality in this birthplace of `capitalism with Chinese characteristics’.

“It was through being able to deliver tangible improvements in people’s daily lives that the Party was able to forge a new social contract”

The reform and opening up movement gave the Chinese people the ability to unleash their entrepreneurial energies. We see the spectacular results of that continuing to this day. But it also gave the Communist Party a new source of legitimacy. Disorientated and disorganised after the Maoist onslaught from 1966 during the Cultural Revolution, it was through being able to deliver tangible improvements in people’s daily lives that the Party was able to restore its image in the eyes of the public. In forging this new social contract, it could point to double-digit GDP growth as irrefutable proof that despite the trauma of the early years, it was now giving Chinese people what they wanted. Reform and opening-up was a vast experiment, designed to save China from a perpetually underperforming and frustrated economy. In the end, through the fact that it worked, it was also able to save the Party.

The Party under Xi continues to use the language of reform and issued a whole new list of reform targets at the Party Plenum of 2013. Reform continues and is set perhaps to continue perpetually in China. But the question remains of what a real kind of new reform might look like. The targets Deng set have long been achieved. By 2021, China will, far ahead of the time he predicted, be a middle-income country with per capita GDP of US $13,000. But reform in a middle-income China with a large, urban living middle class, is very different from that which was embarked on in 1978 when 80 percent of Chinese still lived in rural areas. The simple fact is that Xi’s China is now wrestling with the complex legacy of Deng era reforms, as it moves forward to become the kind of great, powerful nation that previous leaders only dreamed of, but China today sees veering into view.

Kerry Brown

Kerry Brown is Professor of Chinese Studies and Director of the Lau China Institute at King’s College, London, and an Associate of the Asia Pacific Programme at Chatham House. His latest book is `China’s Dream’s: The Culture of the Communist Party and the Secret Source of its Power.’

The post Kerry Brown explains that the Opening up and Reform has led to legitimise China’s political leadership appeared first on Focus - China Britain Business Council.

When I began a career in advertising in the ’80s, the world was a different place.

The charts were topped with the sounds of George Michael, telling me I “gotta have Faith”, Belinda Carlisle was crooning “Heaven is a Place on Earth” and Patrick Swayze was dirty dancing to the “Time of My Life”.

It was all a perfect soundtrack to the life I felt I had; a fledgling, seemingly capable, padded-shoulder trainee account executive, in an advertising job landed directly after graduation. My first paycheck. My first job title. I was somebody.

 Then came the inevitable emotional peaks and troughs that moved my naïve self-belief into a crumbling, self-hating wreck that wanted the earth to swallow me up.  Such as the time I crashed the new car I was recklessly test-driving at an automotive client’s fun car rally (thankfully only the car was hurt).  Or the time I accidentally threw away a bag of competition entries and had to rummage through stinking rubbish bins in the staff car park to find them.

“The greatest barrier to success is the fear of failure”

Regrets? I’ve had a few.

But over the course of a 30-year career that has taken me from jobs in advertising agencies to movie studios, theme parks and newspapers, what lessons have I learned?

Well, I’d love to picture myself as a platinum-coiffed Meryl Streep, sitting in a corner view office, wearing Prada and pearls, smiling serenely while giving you sage advice. Yet the true picture might be more like this: tired, stressed, messy hair, with a view of the pollution, hitting a trough of deadlines and more self-doubt. But loving it.

You see, career fact seldom resembles movie fiction, or the pages of Fortune magazine. Yes, I’ve learned to adapt, to grow, to know how to lead and who to follow. To strive for quality and challenge inequality. Like any responsible executive, I’ve been guided by words of wisdom collected over the years: “If in doubt, check it out”; “Better to do something small and excellent, than something big and average”; “Do what you love, love what you do”. There have also been wisdoms that seem harder to achieve: “Listen more than you speak”, “Stay Zen. Count to 10.”

But the big lesson is that nobody’s perfect. Deep down, I am still the same trainee account executive that makes mistakes, has fears, doubts and personality flaws. Only now, I am a middle-aged businesswoman who’s supposed to know better, having worked a lifetime.

Influences by the movie Working Girl, Anne’s advise is to give yourself a break

So if I were to travel back in time to visit my aspirational younger self, during the “Working Girl” era (1988: check it out, it’s a cute movie where Melanie Griffith goes from office lackey to top dog), I would have two pieces of advice for myself. One: “Give yourself a break. It’s ok to screw up. If your head and heart are in the right place, you’ll learn and grow.”  And two: “Have patience. Life’s a journey.”

I still need to remind myself of such wisdom, even today. Because we never really stop screwing up; though we don’t tend to make the same mistakes. (I have a Pavlovian aversion to competition entries and test-driving shiny new cars). But that doesn’t mean that just around the corner, there isn’t a new lesson waiting to be learned the hard way.

As they say, the greatest barrier to success is the fear of failure. It’s OK to screw up and learn, so have faith and you’ll have the time of your life.

The post Anne Wong of Universal Pictures discusses her career appeared first on Focus - China Britain Business Council.

Tell me about your role now and the path you took to get here

I’m a diplomat and economist turned entrepreneur. I’ve just opened a new international development consultancy and think-tank in Beijing – called “Development Reimagined” in English, and “睿纳新国际咨询” in Chinese – meaning far-sighted and innovative. Its ultimate aim is poverty reduction all around the world, so we have strong expertise in international development and international relations as well as climate change, as that is the biggest challenge facing all of us.

By being here in China and with a wide network of experts across Africa and beyond, it is also designed to support governments, businesses and others from poor countries get the most out of their relationship with China, and vice versa – to support Chinese ministries, businesses and NGOs to successfully go out and have a positive impact abroad.

Being born in Kenya I had always wanted to “give back”, and that’s what drove me to initially be a career civil servant. I worked in various high-profile, international facing roles combining economics with policy making in the UK Government for 13 years, and even in these roles always enjoyed pushing the boat out to generate new ideas. I then saw an advert for a two-year Deputy Country Director level position in the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in China, and could not resist applying, and I got it.

It was this position, which I really enjoyed, combined with becoming a mother in 2016 that finally gave me the extra courage to leap out into the private sector. I realised there was a real need out there, which the UN and others were trying to fill but couldn’t because they didn’t have the mandate or were too slow. If I could fill that gap (whilst bringing up a child) I realised I could and should do so. So I jumped and I’m loving it so far.

If you know there is a market, if you have ideas for how you can meet that market and how you can make it grow, you can do it

Who were your role models and why?

I’ve never had particular role models – my parents instilled in me a belief that I can and should be able to do anything, and that’s the perspective I want to give to my son too. But where I take inspiration from depends on the challenge I’m facing: from other women CEOs in China – of which there are several – to great leaders like Barack Obama, to the female driver of a tricycle car that waits outside my apartment block every day. Sometimes you need that reminder to just turn up every day.

“I know my topic well, I am proactive about my career, and I bring myself into my career”

What challenges have you faced that you think are particular to women and how have you dealt with them? 

Being a female and a black woman in international relations isn’t easy – I always have to push myself – lean in – to open my mouth so that people know I have something to offer, otherwise I’ll be overlooked, both day to day and career wise. So I deal with this in three steps. First, I always know my topic really well. Being an expert, having a few statistics to hand, is key in getting recognition and new clients. Second, I keep my options open, and am always proactive about my career. In government, I always had to ask for promotions, create my roles – unlike my male counterparts I was never simply offered them. Third, I bring myself into my career, for example through blogging about my work, which I started in 2011, before it became popular for senior managers to do. This has helped me develop my special, authentic style of leadership, which I use now in leading the new consultancy.

What do you think the benefits of gender diversity would be to business?

I’m glad that the conversation about gender and other forms of diversity has moved on to focus on the tangible benefits, rather than being simply tokenistic. But companies and organisations need to truly reflect the populations they serve, which means giving women, ethnic minorities and disabled people equal priority at all levels. Having led multicultural teams in the UN and in my own businesses now, I can vouch for the fact that all organisations need a diversity of perspectives to flourish. But fundamentally people everywhere – from China to the UK to Kenya – also have the right not to face discrimination, and I believe just as strongly in this right as I do the economics.

What do you hope to see change to make gender diversity possible?

One of my pet hates is “manels” (discussion or presentation panels in conferences that are made up exclusively of men). They just shouldn’t exist in this day and age, yet I see them everywhere in China and in international organisations. But gender diversity is much more than just thinking of women that can talk expertly, which actually doesn’t take much effort at all. It’s also more than training, mentoring, or women leaning in… These are important but ultimately they put the onus on women to sort the problem out. As an economist, I believe that for any type of diversity question, it should be about the majority – in this case the men – committing to change, whether that’s through quotas, financial incentives to employ women, or any other real, tangible and long-term measures. Money talks.

What advice would you like to share to other women contemplating chasing senior roles in business?

Three pieces of advice. First, three words – which Nike use in their advertising – “Just Do It”. If you know there is a market, if you have ideas for how you can meet that market and how you can make it grow, you can do it. Especially in China, the opportunities are huge. Second, take it step by step. Every day you will meet a new challenge. Avoid the female instinct to multitask and take on too many challenges at a time. Third, the women closest to you are your best mentors. I’m very lucky to have access to some great women in China and around the world, who I can call on whenever I need them, and who think of me when they hear of new opportunities. They have been priceless along the way so far.

This article is part of a series to profile women leaders in the community, to share experience and create awareness about gender diversity and what it can bring organisations. It is part of the British Chamber’s Women’s Initiative.

The post Hannah Wanjie Ryder CEO of Development Reimagined appeared first on Focus - China Britain Business Council.

Tell me about your role now and the path you took to get here

 I have had the good fortune to work in one of the most dynamic and competitive industries in China – the automotive industry – for more than a decade. Perhaps somewhat less fortunately, my roles in PR and communications require 24-hours a day, seven days a week dedication.

Nevertheless, I love what I do. Most importantly, through my work I have had the opportunity to grow, to find myself and define to myself who it is that I really am and want to be.

Like many women, it took me some time to discover what it is that matters to me. It wasn’t until I joined Daimler AG at age 30 that things started to fall into place. As green and naive as it is possible to be, I started my corporate life not really knowing much at all.

One of the key lessons that I take from work is as much as we may have lofty ambitions for creating positive impact in the world around us, we must always stay grounded in the details and minutiae of the task at hand. Having a vision to aim for is important but having a plan to execute is vital.

What does this mean? This meaning success in a PR job (as it is for many other jobs) requires tireless dedication to getting the work done. To letting nothing slip by unconsidered. From social networking, to creative content, to tapping the public mood, to being a good and gracious host, to scrutinising the choice of a word or the positioning of a comma, PR is all-encompassing.

Keep learning, set yourself the highest standards, achieve your goals (and sometimes fail – because if you always achieve your goals you are not setting them far enough ahead of you) – all of these are lessons I have learned through my own experimental experience growing up.

Change will come from first changing her mindset, allowing her to unleash her potential, growing her confidence and keep learning throughout her life

Who were your role models and why?

I am inspired both by the “ordinary people” that surround us in our day to day lives as well as those who have achieved success on bigger stages. There are many ways to leave your mark in life. The older I get, the humbler I get.

While there is one woman in particular who has been a mentor to me, she is too modest to allow me to mention her by name. She has been a role model to me through her achievements in her professional life. In a world as complex as the one we live in today, in which commitments erode quickly, passions fade and dreams evaporate, she is the living embodiment of the true meaning of “persistence”.

Over the 13 years we have known each other, I have seen first-hand her diligence, her dedication to perfection and her commitment to her job above all else. She is the greatest inspiration I have ever been given. I take her presence in my life as a “life blessing”.

Malcolm Gladwell in his book Outliers: The Story of Success repeatedly mentions the “10,000-Hour Rule”, claiming that the key to achieving world-class expertise in any skill, is, to a large extent, a matter of practicing the correct way, for a total of around 10,000 hours. I have watched her example, tirelessly dedicating herself to diligently honing her skills for her whole professional life.

What challenges have you faced that you think are particular to women and how did you deal with them? 

Unconscious gender stereotypes might be the most difficult challenge we face today. Although in the cities Chinese women work after marriage, there is an unspoken rule that women don’t need to pursue their careers or to continue to strive professionally in the ways that men are expected to after marriage.

The fundamental way to deal with this challenge is to live life just like a man. This may sound like a joke but it isn’t. Today’s women should expect and certainly deserve to enjoy a long, exciting and fulfilling life just like men do, and this includes a professional life. Despite the constraints that society might place on a woman, change will come from first changing her mindset, allowing her to unleash her potential, growing her confidence and keep learning throughout her life.

What do you think the benefits of gender diversity would be to business?

No matter whether it is gender diversity, racial diversity or age diversity, all forms of diversity are important and necessary to the business world to allow for all perspectives to be included. As a result, businesses can have the most unbiased and complete understanding possible, allowing them to in turn take the smartest and most sophisticated business decisions possible.

However, none of us are reducible to a single characteristic or factor. We are never just one thing. We are all different and all have our own contribution to make to the success of a business.

It is too simplistic to address the business benefits of diversity solely from a gender perspective. However, in my experience and in studies it is shown that female business leaders tend to be more resilient, caring and act as better listeners and communicators.

It is also about changing the mindsets of parents who may themselves often not have benefited from a thorough education

 What do you hope to see change to make gender diversity possible?

I am proud that China has set a good example in terms of gender equality, even among developed countries. According to a study by Grant Thornton, the proportion of Chinese women in senior management reached 51 percent, outpacing the global average of 21 percent.

However, in many rural areas, gender inequality still exists, starting from elementary school or middle school. Whether through enhanced educational policies or through the involvement of NGOs, the education of girls can be further reinforced and elevated. Financial constraints are not the only issue here.  It is also about changing the mindsets of parents who may themselves often not have benefited from a thorough education.

Any advice you would like to share with other women contemplating chasing senior roles in business?

I think the requirements for success for a female leader in business are the same as those for a man. However, in reality, a woman has more work to do to balance her different roles as a mother, a wife, a daughter, and a female leader. It is often said of the great performer Ginger Rogers that she had to do everything that Fred Astaire did, backwards and in high heels. This is true today for my generation of professional women too.

As a mother of two, I am keenly aware that organisational, managerial and communication skills are also highly required in my personal life. A home-based ecosystem with clear priorities, rules, and operational details is needed, so as a female leader, your frequent required absences from home won’t be a real problem.

This article is part of a series profiling women leaders in our community, to share experience and create awareness about gender diversity and what it can bring organisations. It is part of the British Chamber’s Women’s Initiative led by Tracy Driscoll, Head of Coaching at the Leadership Group and Chair of the HR Forum for Britcham.

The post Priscilla Zhou Ray of JLR talks about gender diversity appeared first on Focus - China Britain Business Council.

One of the frustrations of dealing with China in the decade after it entered the World Trade Organisation (WTO) in 2001 was the ways in which, almost daily, the People’s Republic was clearly an emerging economic superpower but one that continued to act diplomatically like it belonged to the middle ranks. The two sides of this one story didn’t seem to add up.

Part of this imbalance was due to just how unexpected events turned out to be in this era. In the period after joining WTO, China’s economy entered a period of phenomenal GDP growth. We have to remember the assessments of most on the November evening when, after almost 14 years of haggling and hard bargaining, China became a WTO member. For many back then, the consensus was that China would struggle hard to comply with the terms it had agreed. Its domestic companies were likely to fight against foreign competition. Its very inefficient agricultural sector was ill-placed to take on entry by other players. Its state enterprises, in particular, looked doomed. And this was before even talking about the moves towards liberalising the country’s primitive nascent services and finance sector.

It is clear, as never before, that China is now a global power.

Almost two decades on, the augurs of doom look like they are referring to another place. From 2002 onwards, China experienced double digit growth year on year. No economy of similar size and complexity has ever seen anything like it. The Asian tigers all did their own version of miraculous growth but on a smaller scale. China could truly praise itself and say that it marked up figures unlike any other place on the planet. And it did this while fulfilling its WTO commitments.

Visitors in this era almost saw money growing from the ground. On a visit to Inner Mongolia in 2006, a place I lived in in the mid-1990s when it was regarded as backward, smoggy and remote, I remember the amount of wealth that was visibly being generated in the provincial capital Hohhot from the mining boom. This continued so that the autonomous region as a whole had the highest provincial growth rate in the country over this period. One local county even posted rates of over 40 percent. This sort of breakneck development had last been seen when Shenzhen, named a Special Economic Zone, was transformed from a fishing town in the early 1990s.

What was lacking over this period was a geopolitical narrative that originated in China and somehow communicated how the country understood its economic development and the meaning of this to the outside world. There were attempts to speak about “peaceful rise” in the mid-2000s. But this had limited traction in the wider world. As one observer noted to me around the time the phrase appeared, “it sounds slightly ominous”.  It didn’t catch on.

Since 2012, there has been much greater effort to spell out two things. One is what Chinese leaders, speaking on behalf of their country, think its new prominence means. China is now the largest trading partner to over 120 countries. It can no longer speak like a marginal place. It has to use a different language about its ambitions, one that accepts its prominence but does not sound intimidating.

The Belt and Road initiative sounds like an invitation, not an order.

The second thing is to communicate China’s desire to work with partners in the outside world in positive ways. It is clear, as never before, that China is now a global power. Its domestic challenges, particularly its environmental challenges, are ones that the world relates to and is impacted by. If China fails to address its challenges, that becomes an international problem, not just a local one. This is the privilege, and the burden, of sheer size.

The need to have a joint narrative to stress this commonality and to set out China’s case as a global power everyone can work with has never been more urgent. Something too prescriptive, and people get nervous, worrying about an assertive, pushy China. But saying nothing doesn’t work either. Then people start to assume the worst.

The Belt and Road initiative, and its various iterations, is the most important statement regarding China’s view of its global vision, and the first which is starting to have some resonance in the outside world. There are a number of its attributes that are now becoming clear. The first is simply that it avoids being normative by not laying down rules. The clue is in the title: it is an initiative, not a policy. In many ways, it simply clears away a space for those inside and outside China to imagine or propose, how they make the all important link. Do they want to build infrastructure, manufacture, create brands, or service logistic lines? In many ways, the idea raises questions, rather than setting out clear guidelines.

This has been one of the criticisms made of the initiative. Many, myself included in the last few years, have demanded to know what the content of the idea is. Where is the main budget coming from? Who in China has responsibility for it, and what sort of standards will it be judged against? In some ways, however, while that model might have a satisfying solidity, it falls into the trap of exposing China to criticisms by those eager to see the country look like it is laying down the law to the rest of the world.

If the language of the Belt and Road initiative is indeed the way that China intends from now on to speak to the world, then it falls short of the sort of declarations expected by some who are convinced they see a China bent on global dominance. But it also avoids the pitfall of being seen as devious, barbed and ingenuous. China is speaking about partnership, and asking for a dialogue. The question from now on therefore lies with the outside world. Now they know how China wants to speak, and the sort of things it is willing to speak about, how do they respond? This will be the key quest for the next decade or so as this epic idea develops.

Kerry Brown is Professor of Chinese Studies and Director of the Lau China Institute at King’s College, London, and an Associate Fellow of Chatham House. He is the author of “China’s World” which is published by I B Tauris in June.

The post China’s Belt and Road Initiative will help it become a global superpower appeared first on Focus - China Britain Business Council.