{"id":12373,"date":"2023-05-26T06:30:08","date_gmt":"2023-05-26T06:30:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/focus.cbbc.org\/?p=12373"},"modified":"2025-04-23T09:31:31","modified_gmt":"2025-04-23T09:31:31","slug":"how-to-do-business-in-china-in-2023","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/focus.cbbc.org\/how-to-do-business-in-china-in-2023\/","title":{"rendered":"Dr Keyu Jin on how to do business in China in 2023"},"content":{"rendered":"

A new book by London-based academic Dr Keyu Jin<\/strong> argues that the popular perception that China still relies on technology transfers, industrial subsidies and unfair trade competition for its economic success is outdated and exaggerated and that a changed perception could revolutionise how companies do business there. Paul French<\/strong> finds out more<\/h2>\n

For decades, it\u2019s been an easy and throw-away shorthand to talk of either socialism or capitalism with \u201cChinese characteristics\u201d, but Dr Keyu Jin, associate professor of Economics at the London School of Economics (originally from Beijing and also an adviser to the China Banking Regulatory Commission on fintech), sees the current Chinese system as neither capitalism nor socialism but rather a wholly Chinese system filled with paradoxes and conundrums.<\/p>\n

London-based Keyu\u2019s new book, The New China Playbook: Beyond Socialism and Capitalism<\/em> (Viking Press), argues that what may appear to be contradictions to the Western eye can, if understood better, be opportunities.<\/p>\n

\"launchpad<\/a><\/p>\n

If this is the \u2018new\u2019 China playbook, what was the \u2018old\u2019 China playbook, and are many of us still stuck in an old way of thinking about China?<\/strong><\/h4>\n

The popular perception in the West that China still relies on technology transfers, industrial subsidies and unfair trade competition as a means to its economic success is outdated and exaggerated. The idea that China\u2019s domineering state is driving out private businesses and will prevent China from becoming an innovative country is also misplaced. Yes, there are deep flaws in China\u2019s economic system, as my book points out. But it\u2019s not the ones we read in Western media. China\u2019s innovation is a consequence of its ferociously competitive landscape.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

At the root of China\u2019s past success as an exporter is its cheap and hard-working labour, paired with efficient infrastructure and logistics and a large market where learning by doing takes place quickly and at scale. But the labour advantage is part of the old playbook. The new playbook shifts from \u201cGDP worshipping\u201d to a softer development metric, from monstrous expansions to a more equitable form of growth, from industrialisation to innovation, and from a risk-averse older generation to a cosmopolitan and consumption-bound new generation. The challenges are also new: how to manage an increasingly complex and demanding society. Innovation is a marathon, not a sprint like industrialisation. Paradoxically, China must now slow down and become more \u2018patient\u2019.<\/p>\n