Cool Fall Trips that will Change Someone's Life: Social Entrepreneurship in Cambodia and more...

I'm always grateful for the many opportunities I have to meet fascinating people doing incredibly interesting things. It's especially wonderful when I get to share in the passion of someone just starting something up. Even better when their passions align with mine. So when Darius, the founder of SOW Asia, a venture philanthropy foundation, introduced me to Paul who was starting Sowers Exchange to create philanthropic travel opportunities, I was keen to help promote their trips.

Paul is an Australian who has been living in Hong Kong since he was 16. He speaks fluent Cantonese and has spent much of his time here working with marginalized and under-resourced people through faith-based organizations. But he realized that there were many well-meaning people outside of religious institutions with an unfulfilled desire to contribute. Most lacked the opportunities for lack of organizational capabilities. That was the seed for Sowers Exchange.

For Sowers Exchange's inaugural trip, Paul has put-together a short 4-day/3-night trip (23-26 October 2009) to connect with the people working at two of Cambodia's ground-breaking social enterprises: Friends International and Tiny Toones. This trip is a perfect primer for anyone who's ever been interested in understanding how social enterprises are different from charities, seeing first-hand how their innovative approaches to solving social problems often have an empowering effect on local communities.

The trip is open to 15 people. To join the trip: Sowers_Exchange_cambodia_Oct09.pdf

In November, there are two other trips worthy of mention. The first actually precipitated a reconnection with Anika, one of my Primary 1 classmates, whom I had not kept in touch with since I left DGJS after Primary 3! I had received an email from Habitat for Humanity calling for volunteers to join the Jimmy & Rosalynn Carter Work Project from 14-20 November 2009 to build homes in earthquake-affected Qionglai, Sichuan. If you ever wanted to meet former President Jimmy Carter, here's your chance! It promises to be a historic build in scale as well as celebrity presence.

They are recruiting volunteers as well as donations to support student volunteers:
JRCWP_Habitat_for_Humanity_eFlyer.pdf


Last, but not least, is a very rare opportunity to drive (safely and comfortably, I might add!) through some of the most scenic areas of Yunnan through Laos and on to Thailand in brand-new Toyota Prados supplied by Avis. The drive with On the Road in China (a company started by Peter, a fellow b-school alum and former racecar driver) starts in Shangri-La and ends in Chiang Mai, with overnight stays in some of the most luxurious hotels around:

24 Hours in Beijing: A Conversion Tour

Hotel Côté Cour -- A tranquil and stylish, 14-room conversion of a hutong just minutes away from the bustling Wangfujing shopping district. The room I stayed in is larger than Aman's and has a tub! And there's free wifi.

China Club -- China Club members can book one of the eight rooms (four large suites, four smaller suites) also converted from a hutong near the Forbidden City area. Outside, standing in the courtyard, the building is overshadowed by surrounding tall, modern office buildings, but inside, the interiors have been beautifully done in a style that reflects the site, its history and of course its Shanghai Tang pedigree.

Aman @ Summer Palace -- Service staff are impeccably trained (something that a friend had complained about when staying there over their soft-opening during the Olympics). The site is to die for, right next to the Summer Palace (it was where guests waiting for an audience with Empress Cixi would stay) with a direct passage into the Summer Palace grounds. The rooms, however, were a major disappointment. The design of the rooms, with its monochromatic, cream and brown colour scheme was uninspired. Rooms feel cramped (bathrooms don't even have room for a bath tub!) and suites lack the wow factor that mine do its palace connection justice. Cloistered underground are a cinema, beauty salon, gym, pilates studio, squash courts and spa. I imagine it would be more an appealing retreat to Beijingers than tourists staying at the Aman who would have plenty to experience in and around Beijing.

Legation Quarter -- A conversion of buildings that used to be the American Legation dating by to the early 1900s. This collection of western-style buildings have been converted to house swanky F&B outlets by chefs such as Daniel Boulud from NYC and Claudio Sadler from Milan. Hong Kong's own Aqua Group has 2 restaurants and 2 bars. Zen and The Meat Co. are soon to open.

798 Space -- Warehouse conversion into vibrant collection of art spaces & galleries, coffee shops and boutiques.

Chat with Jim Spear, co-founder of China Countryside Hotels

The Grameen Foundation field trip has been a boon in more ways than one. On the trip, I met JS and JH. JS, from Beijing, told me about her country home by the Great Wall that also gets let to visitors. I was immediately interested to find out more about the project in Mutianyu Village. As promised, when she got back to Beijing, I got an email from last week with links to China Countryside Hotels, founded by husband-and-wife team Jim Spear and Tang Liang. As for JH, we instantly hit it off when we found out our common interests in developing a social enterprise combining good design, sustainable development and luxury travel. That's how JH and I ended up on an hour-long skype conference chat at 7am this morning with Jim to learn more about his sustainable tourism projects in and around Mutianyu village in addition to setting up luxury guesthouses such The Pavilion:
The Schoolhouse, a restaurant and glass-blowing workshop in a renovated schoolhouse
The Roadhouse, a restaurant
Xiaolumian, a farmhouse restaurant serving noodles


LCL: i'm always looking out for cool places in china like mutianyu, wishing there were more
JS (Jim Spear): Actually, we're just starting out on these village enterprises though I have had a weekend home in Mutianyu (mty) for 15 years

LCL: before we start, let's do brief intros...JH?
JH: i've always been deeply interested in the field of development, and i guess part of that interest stems from having grown up all over the world, thus having this incessant traveller's itch

and the more places i experience (either as a resident or as a traveller) the more i become interested in issues of sustainable development -- preservation of the uniqueness of 'local' whilst benefitting from the advantages of the global, i guess

it was quite by chance that i got to join the grameen foundation sichuan trip, which was a very inspiring trip in many respects
LCL: JH is echoing all my sentiments
JH: and dialogues, experiences, personal reflections etc. that came out of that trip in a way articulated a lot of the ideas that were already floating around in my head, and then i read what you established with the mutianyu project, which seems to be the materialization of everything in a very real way!

two of my passions, travelling and design, that desire to do my bit for the collective, and that dilemma of trying to compromise between the luxury world and the awareness of the real world etc.

so i've always been interested in ways of bridging and bringing together sort of non-profit and for-profit businesses together

LCL: JH is speaking for me as well...and she's doing a great job at it. So Jim, your turn...
JS: we're just taking little steps -- far from perfect. but i think we're on the right track re: sustainability in the village context: local people, local companies, local food, homemade, existing footprints, sensitivity to environment. I am delighted to have the chance to chat with both of you.

i have been living here 23 years -- from the usa -- where i was a phd student at berkeley
LCL: phd in?
JS: political economy re: china/japan but i didn't finish thesis, i took a consulting job in Beijing because i wanted to be where the action was

[consulting on] early jvs in a variety of industries and high tech sales, i started my own trding company that eventually morphed into a wine importer (ASC) and later I worked for many years in the medical field for a NASDAQ company

when i was getting close to 50 and my kids were in college i had a mid-life crisis and chucked everything to move out to our weekend house in mutianyu

JH: haha
LCL: hahaha...jungha and i joke that we are in third-life crisis...hahaha
JH: i was about to say that, haha
LCL: and no regrets?
JS: yeah, haha...life is too short to spend on regrets. of course i have no regrets. i feel i am one of the luckiest people in the world. i have now designed and built 19 houses, made new friends, helped our village, time of my life

when i moved out to the village and re-did my own house a friend asked me to build him a house and the housing part started there. about the same time the mayor sat me down and said: look spear, in case you hadn't noticed, we're having a hard time, you're a rich american and you should give something back, after all we let you live in our village and you should make an investment here to help us

LCL: first Q...how did you pull off buying your first house to begin with? i assume it's not that straight-forward with deeds and stuff
JS: absolutely right. actually we lease peasant residence plots with existing houses on them. not purchase as in freehold.
JH & LCL (at the same time): how long is the lease?
JS: this is also complicated. ranging from 10 to 50 years
LCL: only 10 years??!! and then lease WITH property converts back?
JS: sure, if you don't put a lot into the house it can make sense. we use short term leases for staff housing, for example. the real houses i have done range from 100-900 sqm

market prices have increased dramatically as we have created the demand. so shorter lease costs less money. clients amortize lease improvement over life of lease. not necessarily a good financial investment. BUT that depends. and one client told me recently their mty house was their best invesment (in light of the crisis)

JH: and the range (10-50 yrs) depends on what qualification? and as a foreigner, is it still possible without a local connection somehow to still qualify for a long lease?
JS: period of lease not dependent on citizenship. actual law may limit real estate leases to 20 years. but we have a lot of lawyers who have helped us write what seem to be enforceable leases for longer periods.

LCL: being near the great wall, which is protected...are the laws stricter for such developments as well as building/renovation permits?
JS: it's very complicated and highly political. regulation -- many, many and sometimes competing authorties. this stifles creativity and leads to other issues. i am not against development, just want to help channel it in sustaianble ways that preserve real communities. LCL: were u aware of all the red tape before you started?
JS: red tape? haha. i have been doing business here for decades. my little stuff in the village every bit as complictaed as anything i ever did

LCL: what do you think of Commune?
JS: Commune is very interesting but not for me. I find the houses plopped there - starchitect syndrome. they failed as an enterprise and very poor service/business model. and then brought in kempinski. last time i stayed there was last month. great spa. poor room. they more or less copied the houses to get to 380 rooms. a walled valley. no connection to community. it makes me cry. but there is room in the market for them as well as us.

lots of our customers have been to virtually every five-star hotel and resort. they literally ache for something real

LCL: yes, absolutely...i prefer your model. so you started off helping other people find and build their dream country home by the Great Wall, and then added the F&B and craft components to the village, and now i see you are starting inns?
JS: we have 6 rental houses www.chinacountrysidehotels.com and 3 or 4 more about to come on line. inns -- we have 2 under construction

LCL: what is the cost of buying, say 50-year lease
JS: location key. in mty and nearby yingbeigou a peasant house as is for 30 years now runs about rmb 450-900k

if you go a few km away can get an existing ouse for rmb 150-200k and even less as you go more distant in the hills

LCL: wow! you've added lots of value!
JS: yes -- the peasants now sit on a previously worthless asset. they take the money to start businesses, educate their kids, provide better old age living, etc

JH: are you looking to expand the model onto other parts of china? or continue expanding this region?
JS: i am very intrerested in first expanding in other nearby villages. but i do think that in areas 1-3 hours from major cities in china and perhaps eleswhere this is replicable

remote is harder -- have you seen naked retreats 3 hours from shangai?
LCL: no! wow, i'm soo glad i'm having this conversation...keep finding out more!
JS: naked retreats took missionary houses from pre-liberation and made them into nice weekend places. issue is (to me) maybe not focused on helping community today.

LCL: just one last question...your businesses are set up as businesses, correct?
JS: yes -- for profit businesses. to me that is part of being sustainable. we have been approached by 1 person who is starting a social investment fund to loan funds or take equity in for-profit businesses that have a commitment to sustainable social development

LCL: thank you so much for your time...i'm going to chew on our conversation a little bit
JH: thanks so much for letting me in on your conversation! and you have a very inspiring life! we drool at what you have achieved!
JS: i enjoyed meeting you via this chat, have a great day!
LCL: have a great weekend in the country! ahhh...that clean, crisp air
JS: i will!

Grameen Foundation Field Trip Wrap-Up

In the lounge of the Langzhong Holiday Inn, our group of 9 visitors from Beijing, Shanghai, Hong Kong and Los Angeles, 2 Grameen Foundation staff, 3 ARDPAS Chengdu and 2 ARDPAS Langzhong staff got together for a Monday morning trip debrief.

When Kate asked us for our reflections on the trip, what its meant for us personally, my biggest take-away was that I gained an appreciation for travelling in China, in particular the rural parts of China. Of course, one has to forgo certain comforts such as clean toilets, but the raw beauty and inspiration are worth the minor discomforts. And in fact, my main fear, losing connectivity, was never realized. China Mobile has done a great job with coverage. So even when my hotel in Pingle did not have internet connection, I was still able to check emails via GPRS on iPhone.

Wang Zhuo, the deputy director of ARDPAS as well as a Professor at Sichuan University, thought it amusing that I kept asking ARDPAS clients and their children about mobile phone and computer usage. When I spotted 37-year-old Mr Hu, the second client we visited in Guanshan village, taking a call to arrange a pig pick-up. I was interested to see whether he used his phone only for calls or used text messages and internet access as well. Mr Hu replied that he only used it for calls. On the other hand, in Jingxi town, we met 36-year-old Mr Yang who owned 3 electronics shops and 1 medical supplies shop. Mr Yang's electronics shops are actually official China Mobile distribution points. He said he used all the functions on his phone including text and internet access. I also asked the two boys I met (one 11, the other 12 years old) whether they used computers in school. Both did and enjoyed playing games on them. It was great to see that there actually isn't too much of a technology gap, and although towns are still ahead of the curve than villages, children get the exposure when they attend schools.

Lina Tang, Grameen Foundation's Hong Kong staff, raised the point that media images of poverty and the poor are often ones of suffering and helplessness, which are meant to induce viewer reactions of pity or sympathy. The real picture is something quite the opposite. We all agreed that meeting the ARDPAS clients, our picture of poverty is one of resourcefulness, making the best of whatever resources they have access to. A case in point is 42-year-old Mr Cao who only took on his first microcredit loan for RMB5,000 last year to buy rice, wheat and feed processing machinery when faced with his father's medical and funeral bills. His wife and 19-year-old daughter went to Shanghai to work for a garment factory to earn more money. But he was happy that they would be able to return soon, because his business was doing well. In fact, he had managed to grab market share from an existing processer by offering better service at lower prices. He was looking forward to taking on a second loan to raise pigs as well. He hoped that he could pass on a good business to his daughter and that she would get married to someone from Langzhong so that she would be close by to take care of them.

When we asked whether microcredit had improved their lives, the clients all pointed to the fact that they could now eat much better. Previously, they could only eat rice and vegetables. Now, they can pretty much eat whatever they like. This was somewhat in contrast to the Jingxi town clients, where microcredit serves more as an insufficient small business loan. Mr Yang, who had used RMB300,000 of his own capital felt that the RMB10,000 loans, while welcome and useful, weren't actually sufficient for him to really expand his business. When asked if he could get a loan from a commercial bank or the Rural Credit Cooperative, he said he probably could, but that the procedures were very troublesome and that he felt the city bankers he had to deal with often looked down on him. He felt much more comfortable dealing with his ARDPAS loan officer, because it was more a peer relationship where he felt respected. This actually highlights one of the challenges facing the microcredit industry in China. Because SME (small medium enterprise) loans are not a common loan product of commercial banks, small businesses sometimes use microcredit to fill that gap. For microcredit, these small businesses are good credit risks when they have to consider how they balance their lending portfolio, which means that microcredit doesn't necessarily get to the poorest of the poor. Grameen Trust, which sets up Grameen Bank-modelled MFIs outside of Bangladesh using a BOT (build-operate-transfer) model (Grameen Foundation, on the other hand, was set-up to help of existing MFIs scale to the level of success of a Grameen Bank by offering training and finance), is in the process of setting up operations in Sichuan. It will be interesting to see how they manage their loan portfolio and whether they will be able to reach the poorest of the poor, which was Yunus' vision.

Andy, who owns a tannery in China, said the trip made him question whether we (those living the city life) had strayed too far from the simple values of rural communities, something as simple as neighbors speaking to each other, connecting and supporting each other. In fact, a group of us had looked on as we watched farmers on one side of the river yelling a whole conversation to farmers on the other side as they headed towards their fields. It seemed to be our equivalent of a facebook message or an sms. Nick, who works in finance in Los Angeles, said that the trip, more than anything, gave him a sense of hope -- coming from the States and a sector that's been battered by crises, he was hopeful to see people so removed still able to enjoy growth and prosperity. Citing one of the clients he visited who used the loan to buy chickens, he said the trip confirmed that microfinance was an efficient use of capital to make a difference. From just being able to make ends meet, this client now owns two karaoke machines with pride.

While the clients probably saw us as potential benefactors, I think we all walked away from this trip with a lot. As nearly all of us in the group are American, we all echoed a renewed sense of hope and confidence that we, as Americans, can pull together to tackle the challenges ahead and grasp the opportunities that arise. It goes without saying that we were a solid block of Obama supporters. Before the trip, Ellen had commented that we needed someone like Obama, in whom we could trust and believe in, and who could give us a sense of confidence that things would be OK. After the visits, most of us walked away believing once again in our own resourcefulness and resilience. That is the true source of hope and confidence. Obama, as he so aptly put it in one of his early speeches, is simply the vessel.

Only one week to go...

Grameen Foundation Field Trip Day 2: Client Visits

Just got back from a most inspiring day in the Chinese countryside visiting ARDPAS (Association for Rural Development of Poor Areas in Sichuan) clients at two project sites -- one in Guangshan village (罐山村) and the other in Jinxi town (井溪鄉). Towns encompass villages and are more affluent than villages. Will post more about my brief meetings with ARDPAS's loan clients later.

In the meantime, for a glimpse of my day, check out the photo album on Facebook.

Grameen Foundation Field Trip Day 1: Chengdu to Langzhong (閬中)

The irony of this trip was not entirely lost on me especially with many Asian markets closing down another 10% yesterday. As the US markets were opening, I was jokingly skyping with CN, who works for a hedge fund: "It seems the people (microcredit clients) I'm about to meet this weekend, who are disconnected from the financial system, seem to be making out fairly well in this global financial market meltdown."

As we in the developed world are panicking about whether our asset values might be wiped out, we forget that there's still a large population of the world that is isolated from all of this. I learned this morning in the Microfinance 101 session given by Grameen Foundation's Kate Druschel that in China alone there are around 130 million people (10% of China's population) living on less than US$1/day, that's more than a third of the population in the United States. 64% of rural inhabitants have no access to financial services such as a savings account, ATMs, money transfer services, let alone credit. It's definitely a funny feeling coming from a world where we are going through a real crisis in our financial system which we're fast losing faith in, and go on a trip to meet people trying to get connected with just the most basic services that our financial system offers, services that we take for granted.

One component of microfinance is microcredit, which is lending small sums of money (in the case of ARDPAS around US$500/loan) to people with no credit history, no collatoral, no business experience. N, who is from Los Angeles and manages a bond fund found this idea simply mind-blowing. But then I pointed out that one of the definitions of credit is to believe, trust, or have faith in someone/something, and in this case it's a belief in people's desire and capacity to provide for themselves and their family the best they can, that's really their collatoral. Our banks were making loans based on collatoral and look where it's gotten us. What's lacking for people in poverty is not a lack of credibility or even repayment ability (we learned that Langzhong borrowers have a 100% repayment history since 2005, 95% since World Bank started the program in 1996), but lack of access to the building blocks of opportunity, whether it's infrastructure (the closer a rural household is to a road, the wealthier they are), technology or start-up/growth capital.

Muhammad Yunus and the Grameen Bank, which won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006 30 years after its founding, have demonstrated that the microfinance model can work. In Bangladesh, Grameen Bank has nearly 7.6 million borrowers spread among 99% of the country's villages, with many having progressed out of poverty. Grameen Bank is not just self-sustaining, it is a profitable social business owned by its borrowers. Grameen Bank, of course, is the shining example within the microfinance industry. In China, microfinance is still in its infancy with challenges to scale. Microfinance institutions in China face regulatory roadblocks, which do not allow them to access debt capital. ARDPAS, for example, is funded solely by grants from Zhejiang Province, Grameen Trust and a wealthy Taiwanese benefactor. They also lack technology to administer loans, trained loan officers and management expertise. Currently, there's a huge gap between supply and demand. In order to meet demand, it's estimated the microfinance industry would need 10-12 million new staff. Again, China is presenting a huge opportunity for growth. Currently, ARDPAS, one of 300 such institutions, lends to around 2,500 clients, just a drop in the 130 million bucket.

While we panic over our world heading for recession, it's worth thinking about the whole other world of potential waiting to connect with ours. Right now, it's looking like we could help each other.


Much of today was spent on the road making the 7-hour trip from Chengdu to Langzhong. For photos, visit the photo album on Facebook.

Ancient Town of Pingle (平樂)

For those who know China only through newspaper stories (2008 Olympics, double digit GDP growth, fake food and goods, Melamine in milk, pollution, etc.), it can seem like a Machiavellian place. Newspapers have to simplify stories to fit 10-word headlines when the real story is more like a long-running soap opera.

In recent years, I have not travelled to China. My last visit was almost three years ago and it was just a day trip to hash out some quality issues with the factory near Dongguan that was producing Little Cream Book at the time (now, only the boxes are produced in China). For me, travelling to China is rarely leisurely. I always think of myself as being able to "rough it" to some degree, but China always puts that view of myself to the test. And I always end up leaving China feeling I've failed the test, like when I got stuck on a hard sleeper car of a Shanghai to Chengdu train (I was getting off in Nanjing) and sat uncomfortably in one spot all too alert to the spitting, orange peels, seeds and other things that were being thrown around. In essence, China is the only country I've been to where I end up feeling like I'm a spoilt princess with hypochondria and obsessive compulsive disorder. Yet, whenever I do make the trip, I also find this country infinitely fascinating, an enigma as overwhelming as it's size with opportunities to match.

Case in point is my visit to Pingle. I stayed in an old nobleman's home that has been converted into a museum/guest house. It's across the river from the ancient town and is in a compound with other touristy attractions like a paper milling workshop, a farmhouse restaurant, tea house etc. Apparently, the house had been moved from its original site and rebuilt at its current location as one of the local tourism bureau's projects to attract more tourists. Mr Li at the guest house told me that I was their first visitor from Hong Kong, but they have previously hosted Japanese and Korean guests of the tourism bureau.

The 8-room house has incredible potential. Being an old house, it has plenty of charm and character; it makes for a great cocktail or dinner party setting or even a movie location. But unfortunately, as a guest house, it is seriously lacking. This place is supposed to be the most luxurious accommodation on offer in this area, which makes me feel even more the guilty princess when I write this. The published rate for a suite is RMB588. In pictures, it looks kitsch, but fine. In real life, it's uncomfortable. The doors can be locked from the inside, but not on the outside. I was reminded not to leave valuables in the room. The bedding was damp and musty. The red carpet was scummy. The bathroom, while not the worst I have seen in China, did not smell inviting. The thing is, with a bit of a re-fit and proper management with well-trained housekeepers, a chef and a great manager/concierge, this place would be awesome. As it is right now, it's just a nice back-drop.

There's a great opportunity for someone to invest in a chain of boutique guest houses around China, perhaps along the ancient Silk Roads.


For photos, check out the Pingle photo album on Facebook.

Cycle of Life Continues...

Yesterday, I received an email from ES & PFS announcing the birth of their daughter this past Sunday. Am very excited for them, especially for their move to Bangalore where ES will be working in microfinance.

Today, I received an email with news that my Great Aunt had passed away peacefully in her sleep this past Saturday. My 98-year-old Great Aunt was an amazing woman -- smart, strong-willed, feisty even. She fought to remain independent up until the very last days of her incredibly meaningful life; she was always inspiring everyone around her (including myself) to aspire to do more and to give back. And so, it didn't really surprise me to learn that one of her grandchildren, EH, is one of the founders of Village Children's Fund, an organization set up 2 years ago to build schools in remote areas of China starting in Guizhou province. Great Aunt herself founded a school in Chongqing back in World War II, which is still in operation today. It's wonderful to see her legacy continuing through the generations.

Pleasant Surprises

I love surprises, especially when they come in boxes. Out of the blue, a box arrived from Pantheon (an imprint of Random House). Had the new titles I sent to SW, an editor I had met last year about Little Cream Book, bounced back? I opened the box, and inside sat copies of Joan Didion's non-fiction collection, We Tell Ourselves Stories in Order to Live, and Feather in the Storm by Emily Wu and Larry Engelmann about Wu's childhood during the Cultural Revolution. Apparently, SW did received the new titles I sent her and had reciprocated. I can't wait to start reading them, especially the Joan Didion collection. Didion's writings were much talked about during my Bryn Mawr days, but to be honest, I didn't actually get around to reading much of them (I had actually read more Susan Sontag). Because I'm an avid reader of Vanity Fair and Dominick Dunne's (Didion's brother-in-law) column, I probably know more about her personal life than about her actual writing.

Speaking of other pleasant surprises, I came across a wonderful write-up on Little Cream Book in the current issue of Four Seasons magazine (as in the luxury hotels and resorts). It was actually written by ST, or better known as Chubby Hubby's S. It was actually an article on creative, lifestyle products coming out of China's metropolitan cities (i.e. Hong Kong, Shanghai and Beijing), which also featured Fort Street Studio, Spin Ceramics, Suzhou Cobblers, Chang & Biorck and Mushi Fashion.

A more local surprise was a visit to a fairly new boutique hotel/serviced apartment right around the corner from my office on 133 Leighton Road. I had heard of Lanson Place mentioned by another friend earlier, but was not intrigued enough to go seek it out. Since EO had just checked-in, I decided to pay him a visit before we went to lunch. Turns out, it's very good value for money. He got upgraded to a Grand Luxe room (around 500 sq. ft.), which has a kitchenette (with microwave and burners), separate sitting area and bedroom with airy views overlooking the stadium. Bathroom is OK in size. Typical of a "boutique hotel", there is no bathtub and offers only one wash basin. At HK$1,400++ (rack rate is HK$3,200++) though, it's a pretty good deal in Causeway Bay. It does run up against competition though; as it's right behind JIA. The more intimate ambiance beats Regal Hotel next door or Excelsior on the harbour front. In Central, there's Hotel LKF, which is very convenient for those who enjoy the Lan Kwai Fong/SoHo nightlife when they're in the city.

And last, but not least, there's the season 3 opener of
Desperate Housewives, which is just out on iTunes. Just 10 more days till LOST!

Warren Buffet and Chinese Tigers

Warren Buffet's philanthropic act yesterday got me thinking this morning. First of all, it got me thinking about 2 words: philanthropy and charity. The two words are often used interchangeably. But in my mind, what Buffet did was a philanthropic act rather than a charitable act. Philanthropy comes from Greek roots -- phil-/philo- meaning love of and anthro- meaning man/mankind. Charity has its roots in Old French meaning Christian love as well as the Latin caritas meaning affection. In my mind, charity has an association with gifts to help the poor or disadvantaged or alleviate suffering. Gifts are only gifts when they come without expectations of a return. Philanthropy, on the other hand, brings to mind grand visions of change. So I decided to look up the two words to see what the dictionary had to say. On charity: The first of six definitions was, "Provision of help or relief to the poor, almsgiving". On philanthropy: "An activity performed with the goal of promoting the well-being of man".

Charitable gifts do not expect a return, but in my mind philanthropy is an investment in the betterment of the human condition. Where charity works towards alleviating pain and suffering of poverty, philanthropy seeks the eradication of poverty as the ultimate goal. Buffet has been one of the greatest investors in businesses of our time. Now, he hopes to also become one of the greatest investors in the "well-being of man" of our time, empowering people to find solutions that will make the world a more peaceful, stable, safe and hospitable place to live in.

His philanthropy also got me wondering why Hong Kong hasn't seen much large-scale philanthropy. Sure there are people who donate to have buildings named after them. Hong Kong people are also quite generous with donations for disaster relief. However, there hasn't been much vision in the giving. Just imagine if one of Hong Kong's top property developers were to devote their time and energy to solving some of China's social problems. Instead, many landlords here are doubling or even tripling rents, profitable bus companies won't even increase their workers' saleries by 2% even though inflation is much higher, etc. Is it cultural? Radio commentators this morning were commenting that Chinese cultural values see families creating wealth for the family and keeping it within the family. But I don't think this is such a distinctly Chinese value. Although I do believe that philanthropy is part of the capitalistic American Dream: every person has a chance to make good for himself, but once wealth is acquired, there also comes responsibility, because wealth is always acquired through the support of others, whether its the community or society as represented by investors, shareholders, employees or clients. So to those whom much is given, something is expected in return. Wealth, in its greatest form, is a philanthropic tool. How much wealth one creates in a lifetime is not solely measured by the numbers at the end of a bank statement, but rather by how much good is done. Buffet is the ultimate investor and creator of wealth.

Interestingly, I had a very inspiring visit by a woman name Quan Li, the founder of Saving China's Tigers. She was introduced to me by Dickson Yewn, one of my favourite jewellery designers (since 2002, he has opened several Life of Circle boutiques in Hong Kong), and also a great animal lover with vision. Quan Li has always been a lover of big cats. After a safari trip to Africa, she inspired to act on her love of big cats, in particular the endangered Chinese tiger. There are fewer than 100 Chinese tigers left in the world, and less than 30 of those living in the wild. As Dickson explained to me, the tiger, rather than the panda, is the real mascot of China. The tiger is very much an important part of Chinese heritage and culture and it's important for Chinese people to recognize the importance of saving these tigers. Quan Li and her husband, an investment banker, have so far used more than US$10 million of their own money to buy land in South Africa to set up a private reserve to reintroduce captive tigers to the wild (currently, three tigers live at the reserve: Cathay, Tiger Woods and Madonna. Sadly, Hope died this year of a heart attack). Quan Li has also been hard at work looking for land and lobbying provincial and national government officials to support her initiative to establish a tiger reserve. Today, there is a press conference launching the "I support the Chinese Tiger" advertising campaign with Jackie Chan being the first celebrity in a long scheduled line-up to show their support for the effort. Quan Li hopes that the awareness raised about the plight of the tigers will bring more support to her private reserve project. Already, two sites, one in Jianxi and the another in Hunan province, have been shortlisted as pilot reserve sites. Quan Li is trying to drum up an investor willing to acquire the operational rights and invest in the infrastructure and management of the reserve for around US$20 million. She envisions a reserve management similar to those in South Africa. The investor could then lease rights to other operators within the reserve. It is her hope that the tigers currently in South Africa can be successfully repatriated to their new home in China by 2008, in time for the Beijing Olympics.

What struck me when meeting Quan Li was her passion. All of this started when Quan Li asked the simple question after her first African safari: Why doesn't China have something like this? And China has many wonderful wilderness sites with amazing wildlife that need protection and preservation from encrouching human populations. She also has the sense to realize that such an initiative needs the support of businesses, because the government cannot support something like this for the long-term and saving tigers is a long-term effort. I hope Quan Li's philanthropy yields great returns. It would be a benefit for China, as well as the rest of the world, to realize the benefits of protecting its own environment.