Author Archives

Shawn Mahoney has travelled the world and his mind and still isn't sure which is which. He looks forward to continuing the discovery and journey with everyone out there on the internets.

• China’s supposed top world education ranking is designed to deceive

  By Shawn Mahoney on December 6, 2013 • ( 7 )

  

  The Program of International Student Assessment (PISA) scores for 15 year olds around the world were recently released. While these scores do offer some indication as to how students from a given country compare, we should be reticent to make took much of… Read More ›

• Why big American businesses fail in China

  By Shawn Mahoney on September 28, 2013 • ( 6 )

  

  If Tolstoy had written a history of foreign corporations in China, it might have started something like this: “Companies that succeed in China do so for similar reasons; every company that fails, fails in its own way.” Since China opened… Read More ›

• China gender issues

  By Shawn Mahoney on May 21, 2013 • ( 3 )

  

  Great amalgamation of some recent articles on gender issues in China at the China Digital Times (China’s Gender Gap Reaches from Rural Areas to Cities). For anyone who is interested in this topic this review of my good friend Professor John… Read More ›

• China: Chengdu protest silenced

  By Shawn Mahoney on May 7, 2013 • ( 0 )

  

  The article below by Fox News is a very insightful, albeit quick look, at the ongoing struggle for transparency and reform in China. The tone of the piece is focused on a key idea – If China’s government would be… Read More ›

• The real cause and impact of China’s labour shortage

  By Shawn Mahoney on April 14, 2013 • ( 4 )

  

  China continues to suffer a labour shortage in its key coastal manufacturing regions. This, no doubt, is impacting U.S. and other foreign companies operating in China. But the labour shortage is not due to a lack of available workers. Instead,… Read More ›

• China: Lighting three fires or the dead hand of Deng?

  By Shawn Mahoney on February 21, 2013 • ( 3 )

  

  As the months have progressed since Xi Jinping became General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party, there has been intense public scrutiny into his current and potential actions. One day you can read an article saying he is not a… Read More ›

• China sends mixed messages

  By Shawn Mahoney on February 1, 2013 • ( 3 )

  

  After last year’s leadership transition, many U.S. firms doing business in China hoped to see an expansion of trade and an easing of regulations in 2013. The sudden openness of the Chinese media and Xi Jinping’s apparent crackdown on corruption… Read More ›

• China needs new enforcement incentives over food safety

  By Shawn Mahoney on January 18, 2013 • ( 0 )

  

  Reuters is reporting on a new proposal in China to pay up to a 300,000 RMB (just under $50,000 USD) reward for those that inform on food safety violations. This is the precursor to a series of laws to strengthen food… Read More ›

• A Chinese education, for a price

  By Shawn Mahoney on November 23, 2012 • ( 4 )

  

  For Chinese children and their devoted parents, education has long been seen as the key to getting ahead in a highly competitive society. But just as money and power grease business deals and civil servant promotions, the academic race here… Read More ›

• China’s stopgap leadership

  By Shawn Mahoney on November 16, 2012 • ( 3 )

  

  The unveiling of China’s new leaders is a great disappointment to those hoping to see real reform. Neither of the two reform minded candidates Wang Yang and Li Yuanchao was promoted from the Politburo to the Standing Committee. However, the ultra… Read More ›

• China’s one-child conundrum

  By Shawn Mahoney on November 12, 2012 • ( 4 )

  

  The China Research Development Foundation has caused a fury of media speculation with a leak of its recommendations on changing China’s one-child policy. This is the newest proposal added to the clamour for change to the three-decade old policy. As… Read More ›

• The ethereal China dream

  By Shawn Mahoney on October 19, 2012 • ( 2 )

  

  On my recent trip to China I kept thinking about Thomas Freidman’s article “China Needs Its Own Dream”. In it he discusses the fact our planet cannot sustain China following the American path of consumption simply for consumptions sake. I was drawn… Read More ›

• China and the CCP in the next decade

  By Shawn Mahoney on October 4, 2012 • ( 1 )

  

  As we approach the upcoming leadership transition at the Chinese Communist Party Congress on November 8, the trend in China news and reporting is decidedly negative. In addition to a focus on the Bo Xilai scandal, East China Sea standoff,… Read More ›

• China is not a functioning meritocracy

  By Shawn Mahoney on September 27, 2012 • ( 2 )

  

  Two months ago Professor Daniel Bell of Qinghua University wrote an article in the Christian Science Monitor about what American democracy could learn from China’s one party rule. The focus of his piece is on the positive values of meritocracy… Read More ›

• Modern Chinese ethical dilemmas

  By Shawn Mahoney on September 20, 2012 • ( 5 )

  

  Two pieces of news out of China in the last few weeks really caught my eye. I specifically focus on these as neither is directly related to the upcoming transition of power, the Bo Xilai scandal, or the current Sino/Japanese… Read More ›

• China’s ghost infrastructure

  By Shawn Mahoney on September 12, 2012 • ( 3 )

  

  As the Chinese economy continues to slow there is a growing consensus additional stimulus packages are forthcoming. What will be interesting to see is the exact nature of any new stimulus the central government enacts? Will it be focused again… Read More ›

• China: Where in the world is Xi Jinping?

  By Shawn Mahoney on September 11, 2012 • ( 6 )

  

  A NY Times article talks about the fact that the expected New President of China, Xi Jinping, is currently “whereabouts unknown”. Over the last week he has cancelled meetings with two Prime Ministers and the US Secretary of State. The fact he… Read More ›

• Science Fiction in China

  By Shawn Mahoney on September 5, 2012 • ( 1 )

  

  This past weekend I attended my first World Science Fiction Convention at Chicon 7. During the convention I listened in on several panels about Science Fiction in China. These panels were extremely interesting and very informative. There were discussions of many historical… Read More ›

• China needs less stone lifting and more communication with Japan

  By Shawn Mahoney on August 29, 2012 • ( 3 )

  

  The current increase in anti-Japanese fervour in China is a worrying trend. Neither Japan nor China is free and clear in the escalation of tensions, with hawks from both sides seeking to take advantage of the situation for their own… Read More ›

• China’s next six months

  By Shawn Mahoney on August 23, 2012 • ( 1 )

  

  In his post on August 19, Patrick Chovanec included these thoughts on the immediate future of China and what the US Presidential candidates ought to be paying attention to in regards to China. 1) China’s economy is not just slowing,… Read More ›

• Graduate unemployment in China and USA

  By Shawn Mahoney on August 17, 2012 • ( 3 )

  

  Unemployment of recent graduates is hovering at 50% in both China and the US. The lack of available employment for the best and the brightest is a symptom of what is wrong at a macro level with each of our… Read More ›