Caruso & Associates » General Info

Tastes like chicken

Chinatex — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 14:38:40 +0000

Y’all know that Chinatex is from Texas. Right down near the border in San Antone. Well, in Texas we like dogs and we have dogs everywhere. In fact, dogs are mans’ best friend. I don’t really agree with that one, but, i did have an old hound dog named Snoopy when i was a kid and he was a good old dog til he got run over by a car. So when i tell my friends back home that they really do eat dogs over here they can’t believe it and say things like “gross”, “that’s terrible”, “what does it taste like?” etc…. Then i have to explain that they are not eating the domestic dogs, that there actually is a dog farm, or lot’s of em, where they raise one kind of dog – just like cows – to be slaughtered and eaten. In Texas, we don’t believe in mistreating our animals, especially our dogs but the thought of raising dogs like chickens or cows or goats or sheep to be eaten doesn’t really bother me too much. In fact, Old Chinatex has eaten a little fried dog meat and it wasn’t so bad – although i don’t prefer it over good old Texas beef or barbecue. That leads me to my point. Y’all know that sometimes i can’t help but write about the interesting stuff that goes on over here in China, rather than boring legal mumbo jumbo. However, when a new law or proposed law is going to come out, i’m one of the first to let y’all know so that you can adjust your business accordingly. So, i was reading the paper today scanning for interesting information to share with y’all when i came across the following: ”Dog and cat meat – age old delicacies in China – could be off the menu in the food-loving nation under its first law against animal cruelty”. ”People who eat either animal, both of which are viewed as promoting bodily warmth” (i can think of other more pleasant things that promote bodily warmth), “could face fines of up to 5,000 RMB (US $730) and up to 15 days in jail if the law is passed”. I’ll keep you posted on the progress of this law, cause i wouldn’t want any of you having to call me from the local jail for mistakenly eating some dog meat. By the way, it doesn’t taste like chicken. As always, yeeha!! Chinatex

Entrepreneur of the Year

Chinatex — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 03:39:12 +0000

Part of the fun of living and working here in this huge concrete jungle is that Old Chinatex gets to be a part of a lot of really cool stuff. It seems that every week and possibly every day, there is something new to participate in, not just as a bystander or paying customer but as an advisor, counsel or just a friend. Since I first came here 7 years ago and looked out my hotel window in the small city of Dongguan and counted 80 building cranes – just on one side of the city – I have seen similar and tremendous growth everywhere I look. While as an advisor to individuals, small businesses and multi-national corporations I most often find myself sorting out problems with doing business here in China as not enough people come to see me prior to entering this market. It can cloud your perspective and even result in the “I’m done with China” syndrome which affects most of us on a monthly basis. However, since I counted the 80 cranes, one thing has not changed – the Chinese peoples’ propensity to absolutely amaze me with the things they are capable of doing and achieving. I often tell people that Shenzhen, the small city of 15 million people feels like Silicon Valley during the late 90’s, except the scale is much larger and it seems to be built on lasting and fundamental economic principles (not carelessly funded by VC and hedge money) without a bubble in sight. For those of you that have not been here or are planning to come here, it is unbelievable the amount of pure entrepreneurial energy that courses through the veins of this city – on an almost 24 hour cycle.

Yesterday, I was honored to be invited to witness the launching of my friend Jame Guo’s new line of sailing yachts. Jame, a veteran of the components business and former resident of the city that claims to never sleep, was looking to have a sailboat made a few years ago. He went all through China looking at the supposedly best and most well funded shipyards and found an opportunity. While overseas joint ventures were bleeding money and producing substandard quality and local shipyards were just not experienced enough to handle the larger boats, Jame decided to build one by himself. Necessity it seems is still the mother of invention and in the sailing yacht business in China Jame Guo is the father. After a painful and hard working year spent in a small trailer outside of his factory, Jame launched the first Farnova 48′ yesterday. Picked it right up off the pier and carefully craned it into the waters of the South China sea. Chinese style with champagne and fireworks and a large crew of workers intent on protecting the hull from being pushed into the sea wall. So, here is a man who has been very successful in electronic components, he didn’t need to spend a year in a trailer and struggle with things like redesigning (and building) the below deck interior more than 4 times – until he got it right. He could of retired and invested his money in U.S treasuries (maybe not) and sailed off into the sunset. But, Jame like so many entrepreneurs in China, are driving the recovery in Asia and doing exactly what we used to do in the west. Invent, innovate, build and take calculated risks. Jame’s new Farnova 48′ is a beautiful and well made cruising sailboat and he has a dozen more lined up in his factory waiting to set sail. For more info you can check out his website: http://www.teammarine.cn/

I cannot explain how exciting it was to watch this man and his team realize a hard fought dream. I have seen teams win championships in different sports and many other similar successes but few have been as rewarding for me as joining Jame yesterday at the boat launch. As we countdown the days until Chinese New Year, one thing is certain – China will take a break to breath and relax and then afterwards hold on world because they are going to come out of the gates roaring in the year of the Tiger. As always, yeeha!! Chinatex

You get what you pay for!

Chinatex — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 07:31:33 +0000

We have a phrase in Texas, something about the difference between a steer and a cow, I don’t remember how it goes, but it’s kind of like the British one – Pennywise and Pound Foolish. This can be used to describe those who try to save a few dollars (used to be a penny back in the 1600’s) and it ends up costing them a lot more in the long term. Old Chinatex gets a lot of enquiries from people and companies that want to do business in Asia-Pacific. They think that just because factories makes stuff real cheap here in China, that things like quality legal counsel should also be cheap. As many of you may know, Hong Kong and it’s neighbor city in China are two of the most expensive cities, as ranked by Mercer, in the world and that while making stuff is still cheap, helping those who make stuff keep their money is not. Now I know what you are thinking “those *#!% lawyers” – well that’s what you will be saying if you trust somebody who is not a lawyer or even worse, a local lawyer to handle your matter. Reminds me of one of the first legal matters I witnessed here in China. Foreign (U.S.) company comes to China to build a entertainment facility in a shopping mall. Against the advice of those who know better, they hire a local lawyer for numerous reasons - one of them being he is cheaper. Unbeknownst to them, the lawyer was good friends with the lawyer for the shopping mall and they had struck a deal where the savings to the shopping mall owner from the negotiations would be shared equally between the two lawyers and the mall owner. True story.

Now, Old Chinatex has been helping people in Hong Kong and China who are in trouble and who don’t want to be in trouble and who want to make good money and keep it – for many years. I don’t want to see y’all be Pennywise and Pound Foolish when having somebody advise you on your business, which to many of you is your life. Better just be careful, make sure you get references if you have any doubt who you are hiring and expect to spend what you would spend in your country for similar quality services. As always, Yee Ha!! Chinatex

60 years in photographs

Chinatex — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 04:27:55 +0000

Howdy y’all. Not a lot of news except for the bad stuff coming out of the U.S. economy. I came across this interesting collection of photo’s put out by the China Daily. It’s pretty cool to see the history of China in photographs. Check it out: http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2009-06/02/content_7961398.htm

As always, yeeha! Chinatex

Shenzhen is special indeed

Chinatex — Fri, 22 May 2009 01:07:57 +0000

Shenzhen, China is approximately 80 kilometers (50 miles for those of us who have trouble with the metric system) north of Hong Kong. It used to be a fishing village, and while there are locals and native Shenzheners, they are few as everyone seems to be from somewhere else. Shenzhen was established as a “Special Economic Zone” (“SEZ”) as part of China’s reform policies in the late 70’s and early 80’s. You can learn more at this link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special_Economic_Zones_of_the_People’s_Republic_of_China

Anyway, for the last 6 years I have been a “legal consultant” here in Shenzhen and I consider it my second home. It is a beautiful city and I particularly like the tropical climate and proximity to the sea. As an SEZ, Shenzhen is filled with techonology, consumer electronics and other companies and to me is the Silicon Valley of China. We have about 12 million people here, but I tend to believe that it’s considerably more as I always have to wait in line for everything. This article just in from the China Daily concerning Shenzhen and it’s expansion. Remember what Old Chinatex has been telling you about the plans for Free Trade in the Pearl River Delta and loosening of forex rules in the region. This is big news and another example of the methodical and strategic approach taken by the government here to continue to make the PRD into a global economic power. As always, Yeeha!! Chinatex.

Shenzhen SEZ aims to be 5 times bigger

By Chen Hong in Shenzhen, Joey Kwok in Hong Kong and Xin Dingding in Beijing (China Daily)
Updated: 2009-05-22 07:40

The Shenzhen government has drawn up a blueprint to expand the country’s first special economic zone (SEZ) to the whole city – as a restructuring strategy to increase its competitiveness amid the economic downturn.

“Legislators are working on the proposal to expand the scope of Shenzhen SEZ to the whole city, but it needs the approval of the State Council,” an official with the legislative affairs office of the Shenzhen People’s Congress, who did not want to be identified, told China Daily Thursday. Earlier this month, the State Council added the city to the list of two more areas to pilot comprehensive reforms. But “important reforms regarding the scope of the SEZ, land and finance should get approval case by case,” the document specifies.

If the proposal is approved, Bao’an and Longgang districts, which make up four-fifths of the city’s land mass, will become part of the SEZ, whose area will swell from the current 395.81 sq km to more than 1,900 sq km.

“In the face of the economic downturn, the SEZ has been retooling its strategy to bring in more high-tech enterprises in place of labor-intensive industries. The economic restructuring will sharpen its competitive edge,” explained Cheng Jiansan, an economist with the Guangdong Academy of Social Sciences.

In the land-strapped SEZ, where the government also needs to develop commercial facilities and green areas for residents, IT enterprises like Huawei have hardly any room for expansion, he said. Huawei is moving its production base to Longgang district, which is not yet part of the SEZ. “But, if in the future, Longgang district becomes part of the SEZ, IT companies like Huawei will be able to enjoy preferential policies like lower income tax,” he said.

The city can also have balanced development with the removal of long-existing policy and legal differences inside and outside the SEZ, scholars said. Bao’an and Longgang are separated from the four districts in the SEZ by a 100-km-long border although in recent years, the government has allowed entry to the SEZ with special passports.

But “if the merger is approved, the two districts would enjoy the same legislation, same urban planning and same infrastructure. The integration will allow the city to achieve balanced development,” said Guo Wanda, vice-president of the China Development Institute, a government think tank.

For example, people living outside the SEZ cannot enjoy the superior education and healthcare resources inside the zone. Also, the Shenzhen government tended to be partial to the SEZ, Cheng said. Likewise, the infrastructure and industrial planning in the two districts were often not in tune with the SEZ.

Cheng said the Zhuhai and Shantou SEZs face a similar problem and “if Shenzhen’s proposal for expansion is approved, I believe Zhuhai will try to go down the same path”.

Linus Yip, strategist at Hong Kong-based First Shanghai Securities, believes the expansion of Shenzhen SEZ will also benefit development in the Pearl River Delta region (PRD). Yip also said it is just a matter of time for Shenzhen to further expand and combine with Hong Kong. “The two cities are, at the moment, quite closely correlated in terms of economic activities, and it will be irresistible for them to merge,” Yip said, adding a merger would bring synergy.

Since 1980, the government has set up five SEZs (Shenzhen, Zhuhai and Shantou in Guangdong province, Xiamen in Fujian province, and Hainan Island). In 2005 and 2006, the State Council designated Shanghai Pudong and Tianjin Binhai as comprehensive reform pilot areas, with Shenzhen added to the list this month. On May 6, Shanghai Pudong secured approval to expand by merging with Nanhui District, to facilitate its plan of becoming an international financial and shipping center.

In the news

Chinatex — Fri, 01 May 2009 15:35:45 +0000

Old Chinatex, being a veteran of Shenzhen, China, was invited to sit on a panel of foreign experts to discuss ways to improve our beautiful city. The conference was sponsored by The Shenzhen Special Economic Zone Daily, which is “the newspaper” in Shenzhen. Now, I’m no expert, but after listening to one of the foreign experts spew a bunch of fei hua (bullshit) on the obvious value of the form of government in China, I had my turn to give my advice. I don’t really remember much of what I said, but if you can read Chinese, the article is right here at this link:

http://sztqb.sznews.com/html/2009-04/29/node_666.htm

Hope everyone has a great May Day holiday. Yeeha!! Chinatex

GPS on your cellphone

Chinatex — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 02:47:12 +0000

I just read this article and want to share with all of you. Old Chinatex’s sources tell him this is serious stuff. As I always say, China is different, they have a different system and government than most of our countries. But China is cool and there is a lot of opportunity here. Respect China and their rules and you will be cool too and won’t have to call me for help. Yeeha!!! Chinatex

Foreign GPS users risk arrest

Stephen Chen in Beijing Mar 26, 2009

Foreigners using GPS devices on the mainland risk being detained by police or national security agents if they suspect them of conducting illegal mapping. “It’s better for [your] safety not to turn on the GPS function [on your cellphone],” a State Bureau of Surveying and Mapping official said.

The bureau announced 10 days ago that it was launching a year-long crackdown this month on illegal surveying, with foreigners among its prime targets. Six ministries are involved in the campaign. Its announcement cites the detention in December 2007 of a foreigner in a village near Luoyang in Henan province. State security agents found a number of locations marked on his hand-held Global Positioning System device and used that as evidence for his arrest, the bureau said, without elaborating.

The South China Morning Post spoke to a bureau official, who identified the detainee as American mining expert Calvin Herron. According to his online profile, Mr Herron is “an exploration geologist with more than 20 years experience in acquisition and management of precious and base metals projects in the western United States” and experience “managing gold and lead-zinc exploration programmes” on the mainland. The official said Mr Herron was deported four months later after the authorities confiscated his equipment and data and fined him 100,000 yuan (HK$113,700). Mr Herron could not be reached for comment. Xu Shijie, a guided-missile expert at Beihang University, said there were missile facilities near Luoyang and Mr Herron had probably been arrested because he was getting too close to them.

He is not the only foreigner to have been detained for surveying and mapping on the mainland without approval. At least six Japanese visitors were reportedly arrested in the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region between 2005 and 2007.

Bureau deputy director Song Chaozhi told China News Service earlier that the bureau would intensify its watch on non-Chinese people using GPS devices for mapping and surveying purposes. “[Such behaviour] severely threatens China’s national security,” Mr Song was quoted as saying. An anonymous article, possibly inspired by the crackdown and entitled “How to Catch a Foreign Spy Mapping Chinese Terrain”, is circulating in mainland internet chat rooms, urging people to watch out for foreigners using GPS devices.

Beijing bans foreigners from conducting a wide range of topographical activities, from plotting terrain to aerial photography. Non-Chinese institutions or individuals intending to use mapping devices on the mainland must file a request to the central government – which can take months to approve; they must also be “assisted” by mainland bodies and submit their data for vetting.

There is no U in labor

Chinatex — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 17:10:06 +0000

In the event any of you were hoping for some relief in the form of a complete revocation of the labor laws, I hate to tell you that it’s not going to happen. Remember that the purpose of the new labor laws, effective January 2008, was not to cripple your manufacturing, trading and other businesses in China, but to build a new market for hungry labor lawyers. Maybe not, but really the purpose was to eliminate the many factories that were playing too far outside of the grid. You know what i mean by this – they were not paying taxes, not paying their employees a decent wage and the profits were being sucked out of China to Hong Kong, Taiwan and other countries. While in some ways the labor law might have gone a little far, as the pendulum often does, it is here to stay as evidenced by the following article. Bottom line as old Chinatex tells his clients, make sure you have a contract with all of your employees and follow the labor law or you will end up calling me when one of the hungry Chinese lawyers or a disgruntled employee files a claim against you. Hope your 2009 is going well. Yeeha!! Chinatex

Changes ruled out to Labour Contract Law

Top lawmaker denies legislation is placing a significant cost burden on businesses

NPC & CPPCC
Cary Huang in Beijing
Mar 10, 2009

No change will be made to the controversial Labour Contract Law because it has had nothing to do with the widespread failures of exportoriented small and medium-sized firms in coastal regions, as entrepreneurs have claimed, a senior lawmaker said.

Xin Chunying, deputy director of the legislative affairs commission of the National People’s Congress Standing Committee, said yesterday a recent investigation had found that the law, in effect since early last year, increased business costs by only 2 percent.

While factory owners decried the law as a crippling cost burden, workers hailed the new legislation. The law unleashed a flood of arbitration and labour dispute cases in manufacturing hubs, such as Guangdong’s Pearl River Delta, where many migrants work.

Recently, representatives of Hong Kong’s battered exporters embarked on a three-day trip to Beijing to step up efforts to lobby for an amendment to or a relaxed implementation of the law, to create a more investor-friendly environment. Some regional governments have gone ahead and relaxed implementation of the law over fears that stringent execution would lead to more factory closures amid the worsening economic environment.

But Ms Xin flatly ruled out such a possibility. ”[We] will not amend the law because of the economic crisis because there is no connection between the crisis and [the enactment of ] the Labour Contract Law,” she told a news briefing on the sidelines of the NPC session in Beijing.

Chen Wei, vice-president of the China Association of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises, said the government should relax somewhat the implementation of the law, in view of difficulties faced by SMEs. He also dismissed Ms Xin’s claim that the law led to a 2 per cent increase in costs, saying some of the association’s member firms claimed that they had seen costs increase as much as 10 to 20 per cent.

There is growing anecdotal evidence of a strain on the mainland’s labour laws, a reflection of the difficult task the government faces in balancing economic growth and social stability during the downturn.

Official data also indicated a growing number of labour lawsuits since the enactment of the controversial law. Supreme People’s Court executive vice-president Shen Deyong said labour disputes had nearly doubled last year, compared with 2007, because of the economic downturn and the Labour Contract Law.

The national figure had increased by 95 per cent year on year, and the number nearly tripled in some eastern and southern coastal cities during the period, Mr Shen said recently. However, Ms Xin argued that the enactment of the law had helped keep relations between employers and employees stable during the downturn.

It’s privacy not piracy…. or is it?

Chinatex — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 01:54:36 +0000

Old Chinatex has often warned his friends and clients about the dangers of unsecure computer networks and allowing employees, children, and others to visit certain websites. The internet is really cool and has opened the world in ways that could not have been imagined when it was created by Al Gore! However, governments and othere nefarious characters are able to use it to access personal and confidential information. Facebook has reasons for their new policy that they will never disclose to the public. I’ve often warned y’all about Facebook and I hate to say “I told you so” so i won’t, just check out the below article and if you are running a company, make sure your network security is solid. Yeeha Chinatex!

Facebook Privacy Change Sparks Federal Complaint

The backlash against Facebook’s updated privacy policies is about to expand. The Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) is preparing to file a formal complaint with the Federal Trade Commission over thesocial network’s updated licenses, PC World has learned.

“We think that Facebook should go back to its original terms of service,” says EPIC Executive Director Marc Rotenberg.

EPIC expects to have its complaint submitted to the FTC by the end of Tuesday.

Wide-Reaching Reaction

The wave of reaction, of course, is hardly limited to official organizations. More than 38,000 Facebook users have joined a user group protesting the change, and countless blogs and news sites havewritten extensively about their concerns. The issue comes down to a couple of alterations within the company’s terms of use that, it would seem, give Facebook eternal ownership of your personal content–even if you decide to delete your account.

The changes were actually made in early February but not widely noticed until Sunday, when The Consumerist’s Chris Walters stumbled upon the subtly shifted language. The section in question explains how Facebook has an “irrevocable, perpetual” license to use your “name, likeness, and image” in essentially any way, including within promotions or external advertising.

That clause, Walters noted, wasn’t new. What had changed was that a sentence at the end of the paragraph was now mysteriously missing. The deleted line stated that the license would “automatically expire” if you removed your content. With that line omitted, Facebook’s license to use your content is simply “perpetual” and “irrevocable,” even decades after you delete your stuff.

Damage Control Doubt

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has attempted to calm the concerns, posting a blog entry stating that “people own their information” and that Facebook “wouldn’t share [it] in a way you wouldn’t want.” As an example of why the controversial clause is needed in its updated form, Zuckerberg explains that even if you were to delete your account, any messages you had sent to a friend would still remain in his inbox–so Facebook requires the expanded rights to make sure that could happen.

Isn’t that a far cry, though, from anything that’d warrant retaining a “perpetual” license to “use, copy, publish, stream, store, retain, publicly perform or display, transmit, scan, reformat, modify, edit, frame, translate, excerpt, [and] adapt” any content you’ve ever uploaded, including the option to “use your name, likeness and image for any purpose”?

Something doesn’t quite add up.

Social Network Comparisons

Hey, maybe I’m misreading this. Could Facebook just be catching up with social network standards? Could everyone be overreacting?

Turns out, no. MySpace’s terms of use agreement grants the company the license to use your non-private content only within MySpace-related services. Moreover–and perhaps more important–MySpace notes that once you delete something from its site, it “will cease distribution as soon as practicable, and at such time when distribution ceases, the license will terminate.”

With Twitter, the company’s terms of service state it “claim[s] no intellectual property rights over the material you provide” and that “you can remove your profile at any time by deleting your account.”

Even YouTube, owned by privacy advocate punching bag Google, limits its license to use your content at will. The license will “terminate within a commercially reasonable time after you remove or delete your user videos,” the service’s terms of service say.

Facebook’s neverending lease on your online life, then, isn’t exactly the norm. Perhaps you can take comfort in the fact, though, that Facebook could change its policies again without ever telling you. “We reserve the right, at our sole discretion, to change or delete portions of these terms at any time without further notice,” Facebook’s agreement says. “Your continued use of the Facebook service after any such changes constitutes your acceptance of the new terms.”

Well, that’s at least reassuring. Anyone else having Beacon flashbacks right now?

Some good news

Chinatex — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 03:30:12 +0000

Here’s a good story about good people being entrepreneurial in China. They are also friends of old Chinatex and indeed Angels. Read the story below or click on the link. Otherwise things are fast and furious here in the wild east as Chinese New Year has officially ended and people from all over the world are looking to the Chinese economy to carry them through these tough economic times. Old Chinatex’s email is bursting with inquiries from people wanting to tap this market. As I tell them all, be patient, invest in relationships, understand China and of course – get a good lawyer.

Yeeha!! Chinatex.

http://paper.sznews.com/szdaily/20080205/ca2885176.htm

Australian husband, Chinese wife make a perfect business match

2008年02月05日 06:31 Shenzhen Daily

Newman Huo

AUSTRALIAN Ian Jones and his Chinese wife Shirley Wu are a perfect match not only in marriage but also in business. The couple owns two businesses in Shekou in Nanshan District. One is Dial-an-Angel, which offers an extensive range of relocation and real estate service for expatriates coming to Shekou. The other is the Thai Orchid, a restaurant providing fine dining for foreigners and middle-class Chinese residents.

With more than 25 years’ work experience in marketing, sales, management and information technology, Ian, 52, is in charge of Dial-an-Angel. With about 10 years’ experiences in the restaurant business, Shirley manages the Thai Orchid.

Before starting work for an IT company in Hong Kong in 2002, Ian had been traveling around Asia for five years working as a marketing executive with an IT company in Sydney, Australia. He came to Shenzhen for the first time in April 2002 staying in an apartment in Futian District. When he went to a restaurant in Shekou, he met with his Chinese wife, Shirley, who was managing a restaurant. Ian worked for the Hong Kong company for a further two years, and then became self-employed as an IT consultant from 2004 through 2006.

Shirley, from Hunan Province, began to operate a restaurant and bar in Kunming, Yunnan Province at the age of 20. She moved to Shenzhen in September 1999. She and Ian were married in June last year. Before they opened the Thai Orchid last September, Shirley had worked in almost every major Western restaurant in Shekou to familiarize herself with foreign cuisine and the catering business in this highly competitive area.

Two years ago, Shirley had many of Ian’s foreign friends ask her for assistance on little things, like getting a driver, a maid or translation. One day a foreigner asked for an apartment to rent, and she found one for him and helped him get all the utilities and bank books organized. “Then we recognized there was a business opportunity in doing this, as foreigners had nobody to help them and were often being cheated by real estate agents,” Ian said.

One of their first customers once said “Thanks, Shirley! You’re an angel,” after she had helped them with a taxi driver who got lost trying to get them home. That’s how the couple finally came up with the name Dial-an-Angel. In December 2006 the couple bought a small real estate agency in the Rose Garden in Nanshan District.

“The big real estate agencies next door laughed at us, one guilao (Chinese nickname for foreigners) and two girls opening a new store next to them, and we didn’t even have uniforms.” said Ian. But now, one of them has gone out of business and Dial-an-Angel has expanded to twice the size and moved to a much larger office nearby. “Now we have a toilet, but we still don’t have uniforms as we believe this will suppress our individuality,” Ian said.

Dial-an-Angel now has four Chinese girls as full-time employees. All speak English and understand what foreigners need in terms of accommodation and services. “Moving to China is a very scary experience for a foreigner as they cannot speak the language and do not understand how things operate or who they can trust,” Ian said. “We know the local area very well and have good contacts in schools, medical services and community groups, so we are able to provide a complete offering and not just arrange an apartment rental and then forget about the client,” he said. More than 80 percent of the Dial-an-Angel’s clients come from referrals of customers whom the company has helped settle into Shekou. “It is a fun business as we meet new people from all over the world every day and help them in moving their families here,” Jones said.