I’d rather have 10 helpful individuals in my network than 1,000 people who aren’t so inclined. I’ve learned that a network is only as helpful as the people within it.

For instance, you can be connected to Bill Gates, Mark Cuban, or another idolized success, but if the relationship isn’t strong enough to help you out, is it really that valuable? It’s important to not get distracted by aiming for relationships with big-name…

It’s that time of year again — the time when marketers are doing everything they can to prepare and acquire a budget for their 2016 initiatives. However, you can’t just walk into your meetings and open your hands to your C-suite like a small child asking for an allowance. You need to walk in with solid information, a documented strategy, and objective support behind each dollar you’re asking for.

Here’s a list of 10…

Shi Yinhong says above all, Beijing needs to respect other nations involved in the project and seek to allay their concerns through soft power

When President Xi Jinping visited Kazakhstan and Indonesia in September 2013, he promoted for the first time building, with various other countries, the "Silk Road Economic Belt" and the "21st Century Maritime Silk Road". At that time, no one could have anticipated the priority,…

Last week one of the Big Three credit rating agencies, Moody’s, issued a vote of confidence to Beijing’s One Belt, One Road initiative. Moody’s reported that the Chinese initiative to enhance economic integration with more than 40 countries across Asia, Europe and the Middle East is “credit positive” for the emerging market sovereigns involved. Indeed, it is assumed that One Belt, One Road Strategy will have a cathartic effect on China’s impoverished neighbors,…

After almost every 'rude Chinese tourist' story, unfortunately, made SCMP.com's top-10 list, I decided to give the question some serious thought

They are seen as pushy, loud, impolite, unruly, and they are everywhere.

And although destination countries welcome the tourism dollars the Chinese spend, they loathe the chaos and hassle some mainland tourists bring upon their cities and…

The challenges facing China’s Silk Road strategy — and how to overcome them.

In 2014, “one belt and one road” (OBOR), a reference to the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road, were the keywords for Chinese diplomacy. The OBOR strategy has become China’s major foreign policy goal, Beijing will promote this initiative economically, politically, militarily and culturally over the…

The MSR is designed to pacify neighboring countries threatened by China’s territorial claims, but will it work?

Ever since Xi Jinping announced the creation of a Maritime Silk Road in an October 2013 speech to the Indonesian parliament, China’s vision for “one road” running through Southeast and South Asia has driven a significant portion of Chinese foreign policy in its periphery. This has led to both…

In 2009, former deputy director of China’s State Administration of Taxation Xu Shanda submitted to the Ministry of Commerce a proposal titled the “Chinese Marshall Plan.” In the wake of the global financial crisis, slumping exports, and extensive internal discussions on how to “create demand,” Xu’s strategy concept suggested utilizing China’s vast foreign reserves to offer loans to developing countries, which would then contract Chinese enterprises for major…

XIONG Chengyu·Maritime Silk Road and cultural industries with special characteristics

The Maritime Silk Road is an overlapping but not identical notion with the application for world heritage listing of the Silk Road and maritime route. The application for world heritage listing is mainly about the inheritance and preservation of cultural heritage, and maritime route focuses more on the possibility and…

François Godement, Agatha Kratz:“One Belt, One Road”: China’s great leap outward



The One Belt One Road initiative (OBOR) – the combination of a land-based Silk Road Economic Belt and a sea-based 21st Century Maritime Silk Road – is a major diplomatic offensive, pushing China’s message that its new multilateral institutions and international cooperation projects make it a “new type of great power”, better…

Discussion of Co-Building “One Belt and One Road” in Cultural Industry by Ministers of Culture of China and Arab

On 10th, September, as an important part of the third Arabic Arts Festival and one of the cultural forum activities of the Silk Road under the program Declaration of the Forum on China-Arab Cooperation, Forum for Ministers of Culture of China and Arab hosted by Ministry of Culture of the People’s Republic of China,…

On 10th, September, as an important part of the third Arabic Arts Festival and one of the cultural forum activities of the Silk Road under the program Declaration of the Forum on China-Arab Cooperation, Forum for Ministers of Culture of China and Arab hosted by Ministry of Culture of the People’s Republic of China, League of Arab States with the partnership of National Museum of China and China Art and Entertainment Group. Cai Wu, minister of Ministry of Culture of…

A month ago China unveiled an action plan for China’s controversial One Belt, One Road initiative. The action plan introduces a series infrastructure development projects and trade related agreements along three Silk Roads emanating from China and reaching as far as Europe, Africa, and South America. It undoubtedly will be the subject of scrutiny as analysts and pundits on both sides of the Pacific chime in to make hasty comparisons to China’s 14th century maritime…

China unveiled on Saturday the principles, framework, and cooperation priorities and mechanisms in its Belt and Road Initiative in a bid to enhance regional connectivity and embrace a brighter future together.

The action plan, jointly released by the National Development and Reform Commission, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Ministry of Commerce, offered insight in the China-initiated program's vision and…

As Ming Wan writes in his commentary in The Asan Forum on the “China Dream,” Chinese leaders use New Year’s celebrations as an opportunity to sum up the achievements of the recent past and to chart new directions for the future. Here, I discuss such New Year’s activity to argue that soft power works in interesting and unexpected ways in China.

Joseph Nye famously defines soft power as “the ability to get what you want…

Since Xi Jinping chose “The China Dream” (中国梦) as his signature slogan in late 2012, much has been written on the topic. By mid-2014, 8,249 articles with “China dream-Zhongguo meng” in the title had been published within the PRC, according to the CNKI China academic journals database. Indeed, the 2014 round of major social science research grant funding in China was dominated by large projects that explore Comrade Xi’s thought in terms of the China dream. The China…

‘The Wickham Rail Car’

Je n'aurais pas du venir我本不該來

J'aurais du savoir mentir

我本該學著撒謊

Ne laisser que ton sourire

僅將你的微笑

Vivre dans mes souvenirs

在記憶裡封存

J'aurais du laisser…

Your face, your smile, I have never seen.



I don't know the color of your skin.



Your voice and laughter I have never heard.



I don't know if it is soft or loud.



Your hugs I have never felt.

I don't know the strength of your arms.…