Economist Sept 12, 2015 (I)

choi

Economist Sept 12, 2015 has a Special Report: Business in China.

(1) Business in China | Back to Business; Despite China’s recent troubles, the prospects for its entrepreneurial private sector remain bright, says Vijay Vaitheeswaran.
http://www.economist.com/news/sp ... rial-private-sector


Note:
(a) "SHANGHAI’S WUKANG ROAD has a long history. In 1897 John Calvin Ferguson, the American head of what is now Jiao Tong University, had it built in the city’s French concession so students could get to class. The road boasts several dozen listed buildings, among them a graceful mansion that is the old family home [武康路4号] of Marjorie Yang, China’s cotton queen."
(i) Wukang Road  武康路  (originally Route Ferguson 福開森路; length: 1.17km; In Ang Lee's 2007 film Lust, Caution, Route Ferguson is where the hero and heroine have their secret rendezvous; In 1897, John Calvin Ferguson, an American educator and president of Nanyang Public School (predecessor of Shanghai Jiao Tong University), built the road with his own salary to make it easier for colleagues and students to get to the school)  en.wikipedia.org
(A) rendezvous (n; plural: same)
www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/rendezvous
(B) John Calvin Ferguson (1866－1945; founded 南洋公學 in 1896 under an edict of 光緒; its president until 1902)
(C) Nanyang Public School  南洋公學 [1896-1905 followed by numerous name changes]
(D) Tang Shaoyi  唐紹儀 (1862-1938; Cantonese; 中華民國首任國務總理 (March - June, 1912, under 臨時大總統 袁世凱; 抗戰初期，唐紹儀曾秉承蔣介石的旨意與日本人密談謀和條件; lived in 上海法租界福開森路（今武康路40號); 軍統局 assassinated him)
(ii) Marjorie YANG Mun-tak  楊敏德 (born in Hong Kong in 1952; chairperson of Esquel Group 溢達集團)

(b) "Tsai Shengbai 蔡聲白, her [Yang's] grandfather * * * took over Mayar Silk Mills 美亞織綢場, founded by his father-in-law (Ms Yang’s great-grandfather), and turned it into one of China’s largest silk firms by introducing modern machinery and professional management. * * * The family moved to Hong Kong and started again. * * * Ms Yang has even managed to get back the mansion in Shanghai."

蔡聲白 (1894-1977; born in 浙江吳興縣 (現湖州市南潯區); "1920年蔡聲白在上海結婚。岳父莫觴清是上海「絲業大王」" and founder of 美亞織綢廠)  zh.wikipedia.org

(c) "Esquel has invested around $200m to transform its manufacturing complex in Gaoming 广东省佛山市高明区, in southern China, and spent a further $30m on wastewater treatment. In one giant room warping machines made in Europe are creating enormous spider’s webs of yarn. Each of the $500,000 Staubli drawing-in machines in another room saves 12 workers."
(i) warp
(n): “a series of yarns extended lengthwise in a loom and crossed by the weft”
(vt): “to arrange (yarns) so as to form a warp”
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/warp
(ii) Stäubli
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stäubli
(a Swiss mechatronics company; co-founded in 1892 by Hermann Stäublil Headquarters Pfäffikon, Switzerland)
(iii) It is important to distinguish “drawing in” from “drawing” in
textile manufacturing
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Textile_manufacturing
(section 1 Processing of cotton: "drawing" (meaning “straightening”) is very early in the manufacturing, and found in section 1.2 Preparatory processes - preparation of yarn, whereas “drawing in” (defined as threading through an eye of heald -- similar to an eye of a needle but much bigger) is late--before weaving, and found in section 1.4 Weaving-fabric manufacture)
(B) A shorter explanation:

Cotton Mills of the Jones Falls. Baltimore Industry Tours, undated.
www.baltimoreindustrytours.com/milling-cotton.php

Please look up “drawing” and “drawing in.”

(d) “Esquel’s story challenges three widely held beliefs about China Inc: that the outlook for business in China is gloomy because the economy is set for a long period of stagnation or worse; that China’s economic miracle was the result of large-scale planning by the state, not private-sector enterprise; and that Chinese firms are mere copycats that cannot innovate. This special report will argue that all these contentions are wrong.”
(i) Western news media often confuse companies of Taiwan or Hong Kong with PRC’s.
(ii) There is NO need to read after this quotation, for the rset talks about something we have already known.

(e) “The late Ronald Coase, a Nobel prize-winning economist, noted in a paper entitled ‘How China Became Capitalist,’ co-written with Wang Ning 王宁 [2002-2005 postdoctoral under Coase at University of Chicago; 2002 PhD University of Chicago], that ‘the fact that the Chinese Communist Party has survived market reform, still monopolises political power and remains active in the economy has helped to sell the statist account of reform.’ But, he continued, what really fuelled the economy were the ‘marginal revolutions’ that enabled entrepreneurship and markets. Private farmers, rural enterprises and small urban entrepreneurs did more from the fringes to advance the economy than did central planners in Beijing."
(f) “Edward Tse 谢祖墀 [1956- ; citizenship: China], a former boss of the Chinese operations of both the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) and Booz & Company (now part of PwC)”