If the gap in business culture and landscape between China and the West were a physical bridge, it might be immeasurably long, spanning two vast and vastly different terrains. It takes more than any one person to bridge the gap, or act as a guide on both shores. It takes a Network.

The two founders of The China Business Network are "China Hands" who worked together in Shanghai, then returned to the USA - Janet Carmosky after 18 years in China, 1985-2003, and Christine Lu after 5 years, 1999-2004. Their re-entry brought them to the realization that business people outside China faced a search, often with unsatisfactory results, for resources able to give them a useful understanding of China, and to execute in China. Meanwhile, professionals in China invariably struggle to work effectively in one culture during the day and another at night; to keep up with the challenge of staying informed and relevant in two divergent worlds. Both sides have things to teach and things to learn.

The literally millions of people who have started building their own bridges to or from China face the continuing need to update information, improve skills, expand networks. There are benefits to each of the current methods: searching the Internet; joining organizations; reading books; attending conferences. Yet the sheer number of conferences, organizations, consultants and books makes it obvious: the space is so huge in scale, geography and subject matter that it's almost impossible to navigate. We need to source a gasket or structure a clean tech investment; improve the effectiveness of long term partnerships in China, or start from scratch to understand opportunities; to update our understanding of the regulatory environment or find a Chinese teacher; find a job, locate a collaborator to better service a client, or hire a specialist. We need to get all the information in one place.

The China Business Network's mission is to provide the open platform where everyone with something to offer -organizations and individuals - can profile themselves, index their skills, locate partners and customers, contribute to the conversation, learn, and reach the entire, targeted community of international business professionals active in China.

With the technology, the understanding of the sector, the vision, and - most of all - the network to bring the entire sector under one umbrella, The China Business Network will continue to bring services to support all China business people in their professional and business development.

Christine Lu, Chairman

Christine Lu is a new media addict who grew up on the web (technically, in LA), received her BA in International Relations with a concentration on East Asian Studies at Boston University, then moved to Shanghai in 1998. After an internship at the American Chamber of Commerce in Shanghai, a stint as a clothing designer and marketing manager for her parents' clothing retail business, she started a dot com adventure with bricks-and-mortar China retailer Janet Carmosky. The company was incubated then rolled into TV Shopping Network (TVSN), a joint venture funded by Duty Free Shoppers founder Robert Miller's private equity firm Search Group, Prudential Assets Management Asia and IAC's Home Shopping Network. Following the 2000 dot-com crash in China, Christine served for five years as Marketing Director for TV Shopping Network and oversaw the company's business development and spearheaded the company's internet, direct marketing and mail order strategies in China.

In March 2007 Christine created and served as the Executive Producer and Host of Entrepreneur Magazine's The China Business Show which has since evolved into The China Business Network.

Christine was recently named to NowPublic's Most Public Index for Los Angeles identifying her as one of the "20 most influential individuals in Los Angeles" a detailed barometer of whose voices are most heard in the digital landscape as new channels—Twitter, Facebook, Flickr, YouTube and the like—transform how media is created and spread.

Janet Carmosky, CEO

Janet is a career China business specialist who completed a BA Chinese Studies, (University of Pennsylvania 1985), then resided in China – Xi’an, Hong Kong, Shanghai – from 1985-2003, with sabbaticals in USA: Washington, D.C. 1988-1990, Berkeley, CA 1999. In her first decade working in and with China she managed import-export, sourcing, and buying agency programs. Since 1993, she has worked in senior management of consulting and operations, with posts including: Director of Burson-Marsteller PR (Shanghai 2001-2003): Director of Operations for Web Connection/chinadotcom, (Shanghai 2000-2001); General Manager, Richina Fashion Retail, (Shanghai, Beijing, Hong Kong 1997-1999); Asst Vice President Richina Capital, (Shanghai, 1994-1997); Senior Manager, Coopers & Lybrand Strategy Consulting, (Shanghai 1993-1994); Senior Account Executive, William E. Connor & Associates, (Hong Kong and Xian 1990-1993); and Sales Manager, Beijing Trade Exchange, (Washington, DC and Beijing 1986-1990). Her past and current clients for China strategy and implementation include: Office Depot, Wella AG, Bacardi, Marriott, Continental Airlines, PR Newswire, Wal*Mart, Corning, Waste Management, Sony, Citroen, Alcatel, Ethicon Endosurgery, Briggs & Stratton, Unilever, Alpharma, Givenchy, Yue Sai Kan. She also works on USA commercial and communications strategy for the Ministry of Science and Technology of the PRC and other Chinese agencies.

Janet Carmosky’s publications include Alcatel in China: Business as an Adventure (2003) a case for MBA students at Switzerland's IMD, also published as an article in Harvard Business Review (Chinese edition) as well as numerous essays and chapters in various Economist publications, (1991-2003). As President of her consulting firm China Prospects (2005-2007) she performed strategy and training projects, and frequently speaks publicly in both English and Chinese. She was married to a native of Xi’an, China for 18 years. Janet speaks Mandarin and Cantonese fluently, and reads and writes Chinese.

Janet Carmosky, CEO and co-founder of The China Business Network talks to Christine Lu about a debate that erupted over at Thomas Crampton's blog between Paul French who just came out with his book Carl Crow, a Tough Old China Hand and Tom Doctoroff, CEO Greater China of JWT and author of the book Billions, Selling To The New Chinese Consumer

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*Thanks to Thomas Crampton for getting the conversation started at ThomasCrampton.com