By Steve DickinsonWhen we draft contracts in China, our foreign company clients usually instruct us to have the contract be governed by foreign law and for any disputes to be decided by arbitration, preferably outside of China. This is often a mistake. One major reason is that when any form of arbitration is required, the plaintiff has no access to the very effective prejudgment remedies available within the Chinese litigation system.

Just got an email from my friend and blogger extraordinaire, Ben Ross. I thought it did a nice job encapsulating what is going on in Beijing these days and after I secured his permission to post it, here goes:

More people are coming to China looking for gold…  and no, I don’t mean the Olympics or gold medals.  (though I am sure Michael Phelps is quite happy with the “Great Haul of China” as I’ve seen it termed)  Nope.  Instead, Philadelphia based lawfirm Dechert LLP is going to start a Beijing office as early [...]

Foreign Policy Magazine is out with a fascinating and very well done list of China's 10 worst laws (damn, why didn't I think of that). (h/t to Jeremiah over at Peking Duck) I certainly agree with most of those on the list, but I hardly think it fair to put the New Property Rights Law on there. Here's what Foreign Policy has to say about it:

Very insightful post on Matt Schiavenza's blog, entitled, "Why Chinglish Exists." Post starts out with a great story on the Great Communicator (Ronald Reagan) and then explains the marketing benefits of using English, no matter how mangled:

James Fallows telling us not to worry about the plethora of "I love China" decals we are seeing on so many Chinese people's faces: History is full of examples of "rising national powers" getting the big head, feeling arrogant, and doing dangerous things. That's not the main feeling I get here. It's negative Chinese nationalism, like what appeared after the protests over the Olympic torch relay in April, that we should worry about. So a confident China is to be congratulated; a victimized-feeling China is the one to be feared.

Too good a line not to repeat. It is from a Lost Laowai post, entitled, "Beijing: Chinatown in Disneyland," reflecting on the atmosphere in Beijing during the Olympics:The Beijing people seem happy in the way that the staff at a five star hotel are happy, but not in the way that a group of old men playing mahjong in a hutong are happy.

Qingdao Olympics ReportWeek TwoAugust 18, 2008By: Steve DickinsonFrom: Qingdao, ChinaWe are heading into week two of the Olympic Sailing Events here in Qingdao. It is time for a short report.

I am a huge fan of Seth Godin's books and of his blog. His piece, "Small is the new big," is a classic. Godin is a marketing genius. On Godin's blog yesterday, he had the following post, entitled, "Policies, biases and conflicts":

So is it gold medals that determine it or is it total medals?Should we give 3 points for a gold, 2 for a silver, and one for a bronze?And shouldn't team sports in something big-time like basketball or volleyball or even soccer count for more than an individual metal in synchronized dive wrestling? For more on this, check out James Fallows' post, "More on Chauvinism. medals, and Olympic TV"