Chuck Copin, Vice-President of Business Development for ThreeSixty Sourcing tells us about the company's success as a top firm specializing in the sourcing of hard goods for international consumer brands.

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This China business podcast was brought to you by The China Business Show and wsRadio.com.

Lisa Chang, President and Creative Director of Angle Communications discusses the impact her boutique PR firm has had on international clients in China, the importance of "guanxi" in getting things done and some words of advice for entrepreneurs interested in doing business in China.

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This China business podcast was brought to you by The China Business Show and wsRadio.com.

Asher Epstein, Managing Director of Dingman Center for Entrepreneurship at the Robert H. Smith School of Business gives an overview of this year's China Business Plan Competition.

This China business podcast was brought to you by The China Business Show and wsRadio.com.

David Liang, Producer of The Shanghai Restoration Project discusses his unique style of music which incorporates a fusion of Eastern and Western cultures and shares his thoughts on the impact of the Internet on the music industry, piracy concerns and applying his management consulting experience to his current career as an independent artist.

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This China business podcast was brought to you by The China Business Show and wsRadio.com.

Hello everyone, welcome to The China Business Network. My name's Christine and I hope you find this site a useful resource of relevant China business information so far. 

I began my own learning curve on doing business in China back in 1995 as an International Relations/East Asian Studies major from Boston University who signed up for an intensive Chinese studies program at Fudan University in Shanghai. Yes, a Chinese person studying Chinese. The result of immigrating to the U.S. from Taiwan when I was 2 years old and growing up in a predominantly Mexican-American suburb of Los Angeles where I spent years refusing to take Saturday Chinese school seriously because my parents forced me to go and I thought it was lame. I still hear the occasional "We told you so" to this day for that one.

Anyways, I remember Shanghai when the only tall building across in Pudong was the Pearl Tower. When the Portman Ritz Carlton was actually the Portman Shangri-la. Where Kathleen's and Malone's used to be the only place to get a real burger in Shanghai and Luke's DD's club and Mao Ming Road made up the nightlife in the city.

My parents paved the China business road for me when they arrived there in 1991 to set up a joint venture company that was China's first maternity clothing brand, manufacturer and retailer in China. I remember that it used to take 2 hours to get from the Hong Qiao airport to my parents' factory in Jing Qiao, Pudong the summer of 1996 while the Yang An freeway was still under construction. By the end of the summer I took that same freeway back to the airport in less than 45 minutes. Things happen fast in Shanghai. They're not kidding.

So in 1996, I convinced The American Chamber of Commerce in Shanghai that they needed the services of an unpaid Chinese-American intern and the rest is history. Fax, grab coffee, answer phones, file...I didn't care, I just wanted a foot in the door. That was back when it was a 3 person operation out of a small office supporting a total membership of 300 members and companies. Now it's more like 3,500+ and counting... 

Here's a summary of my work experience leading up to 2004 when I  moved back to the U.S...

Offering a strong blend of creativity and cross cultural insight since 1996, Christine’s entrepreneurial career in China has included designing 2 lines of women’s ready to wear clothing, co-founding a dot-com startup, training for 6 months at HSN (Home Shopping Network) International’s headquarters in the U.S., developing a catalog and internet business to compliment a TV shopping company’s multi-channel retail concept and through it all, remaining an active member in networking circles within The American Chamber of Commerce in Shanghai.

Following a successful 5 years leading to her promotion as Marketing Director for TVSN (TV Shopping Network) in China, Christine returned to the US in 2004 and is currently based in San Diego where she lives with her husband and son. In addition to her role as Founder of The China Business Network and Executive Producer and Host of The China Business Show, Christine remains true to her entrepreneurial retail spirit as the co-owner of an online kitchenware business that maintains an excellent Gold Powerseller status on eBay and is a featured merchant in Amazon.com’s Seller Central network.

This site is my latest passion. It's something I've been wanting to put together for a while now and is the result of my own frustration with trying to stay informed and in the loop with what's going on in China business since moving back to the U.S. -- Yes, there are endless publications and news articles on current events in China. Tons of press releases, white papers and $500 reports on every facet of the business landscape there. You can attend countless trade shows, conferences and executive MBA programs...and at the end of the day still feel like you don't quite have your finger on the pulse of what's going on...the result in part to fast paced growth while traditional media remains focused on the same recycled high level headlines and fragments of quality China information remaining scattered across the web.  The China Business Network is my answer to my own curiousity of who's doing what, where and how in China these days. Presented in a casual manner that's interesting, informative and relevant at the same time.

In summary, The China Business Network is a new project dedicated to building a much needed bridge of useful and relevant information between the international business community and those on the ground who know the business climate first hand in China. Stay tuned for more...

Thanks for dropping by,

Christine

Founder, The China Business Network

Executive Producer, The China Business Show