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!

Nike+ Human Race: Running for UN Refugee Agency

I was inspired to join the human race today. That is, the Nike+ 10K Human Race. I saw a poster for it the other day in Vancouver (one of the official race cities) as I walked past the Nike Shop on Robson, on my way to the Lululemon shop. After a gorgeous, leisurely 10K run along Falls Creek into Stanley Park today, I decided to sign up. While there are official races in 25 cities around the world, any runner (with the Nike+ running gear, of course) can join the race and run the 10K from anywhere around the world. As fate would have it, I will be running somewhere I'm visiting for the first time: Cordoba, Argentina (incidentally, Buenos Aires, New York City, Seoul, Mount Fuji, Shanghai, Singpore and Taipei are a few of the 25 official race cities). No doubt, it'll be a memorable run. The idea was just too cool, and too good, to resist.

Based on runners' charity choice, their training miles run on Nike+ gear and on race day, Nike will determine how much it donates to each of these three charities: The UN Refugee Agency, Lance Armstrong Foundation and WWF. Runners can also ask family and friends to sponsor their training miles, raising more money for their selected charity.

I've pledged to run 100 miles between now and race day on 31 August 2008 in aid of The UN Refugee Agency. Click here to sponsor me and help support their work to ensure that refugee children around the world get access to education, sport and technology!

Lucky 20 pounds

Last Saturday, taking a coffee break from work, I happened upon a 20 pound note on the ground on my way to Caffe Nero. For me, it was yet another sign from the universe that London continues to be city where good things happen. I actually felt a little guilty picking up the note. And when the woman walking in front of me turned around, I actually extended the note towards her thinking that she might have been the one to have dropped it. But she didn't acknowledge it, so I tucked the 20 pound note in a separate compartment in my wallet to make sure I wouldn't spend it. I wanted to keep it for the next time I returned to London.

Since my return to Hong Kong, I've told a few people about my lucky find. Most just politely indulged me in my silliness. Afterall, it's just 20 pounds (US$40 or HK$312); what's the big deal? One person actually said, "If 20 pounds is your definition of good luck, then you don't have very high expectations." This got me thinking about what 20 pounds can fetch:
Starbucks -- 10 of my usual coffee drinks (that's nearly a week's supply!)
iTunes -- a season of one of my favourite TV show (around 16.5 hours of entertainment, depending on the show) or 40 songs
Blackstone Group -- 1 share of the private equity firm's stock at Friday's close of US$27.75

But then, just before yoga class, LP reminded me: "Why don't you donate it?". I don't really believe in donations like the flag day, Community Chest, telethon type. But I thought it was the perfect idea to make a investment in luck -- pass on good fortune that would spin more good fortune to more people. Sounds like chain mail, but hopefully a bit more useful. But the universe had sent me luck and instead of hoarding it, I should deploy it in a more intelligent way. So, with US$40, I can fund:
Microloan through Kiva -- A US$25 loan to one business. Currently, they are limiting loan size/business to US$25, so the balance of US$15 would be unallocated.
Mann Deshi Business School for Rural Women -- 16 women in India can attend a 10-day business fundamentals course to help them better manage their own businesses that are funded by microloans
Livestock for sustainable living through Heifer International -- 2 flocks of ducks to families in China, who will then pass on the first offspring from their flock to other families

In the end, I opted for Heifer, because it was listening to Bill Clinton talk about this organization's work ("the gift that keeps on giving") that led me to a bit of a lightbulb morning last month. So somewhere out there, two families will be receiving ducks soon. Too bad I can't specify that they be the cute Hyde Park ducks.

TED Talks Diversion

Finally started putting together the business plan to submit to 21st Century Challenge. The clock is ticking; deadline for submissions is 12 October. I've always wanted to create a business that combines luxury travel, microfinance and technology, but for one reasons or another, there wasn't any urgency until I came across the Challenge in a Skoll Foundation newsletter. Nothing like a deadline for motivation! After a great luncheon brainstorm session with IE, the whole idea seemed to just reveal itself. So now I'm getting down to the nitty gritty details, combing the internet for relevant statistics.

Was googling for companies that offer mobile phone banking/payment systems in developing countries and came across Iqbal Quadir's GrameenPhone and his engaging TED talk, which then got me side-tracked to Hans Rosling's entertaining TED talk. His Gapminder World 2006 tool (which google now owns) is super cool, great for finding all sorts of interesting statistics such as comparing the number of internet users across nations (Sweden, where Hans Rosling is from, has 756 users per 1,000 people, higher than the US's 630 users) or phone users (Hong Kong has the second highest at 1,733 fixed and mobile subscriptions per 1,000 users, just slightly behind Sweden's 1,743).

TED Talks -- Hans Rosling: Watch the End of Poverty


TED Talks -- Iqbal Quadir: The Power of the Mobile Phone to End Poverty

Obviously, looming deadlines haven't prevented me from killing a whole afternoon watching TED Talks. The dangers of youtube...

Unitus & microfinance

AFS' birth announcement arrived in the mail today and I noted with amusement that we share the same Chinese name (at least in sound)! There is only a slight addition in one of the characters in her name changing the meaning from her "forever peacful" to my "singing peace". Can't wait to meet her in Bangalore!

Even more interesting, though, was the brief note that her father would be working with Unitus, which "is a global microfinance accelerator that acts as a social venture capital investor for the microfinance industry". Their 14-minute video is a great intro to their work that has impacted more than half a million individuals and counting:

Goodwill Buys

Instant Karma -- The Campaign to Save Darfur benefits Amnesty International's "Make Some Noise" project. Artists ranging from U2 ("Instant Karma") to Green Day ("Working Class Hero") to Black Eyed Peas ("Power to the People") to Snow Patrol ("Isolation") to Avril Lavigne ("Imagine") reinterpret songs from John Lennon's solo songbook.

Was going through julib.com newsletters and came across their write-up on Social Atelier's conscience-raising and fund-raising for Solar Cooker Project T-shirts. The line of T-shirts with direct messages addressing global warming, warm, body image, genocide, gay marriage, poverty and AIDS, will launch tomorrow (14 June) at Fred Segal in Los Angeles.

Crazy about...

...iPhone. I am wishing Christmas will come on 29 June and my brother will tell me that he can get me an iPhone. I know I'll have to buy into a 2-year AT&T subscription, but as long as I can swap the SIM card, it'll be worth it. I am sick to death of my ultra-basic Nokia phone (even though it's the only phone that never gets left behind in taxis, dropped in the loo, stolen or broken; people actually chase after me if I leave the phone behind!). Only 18 more days in the US. But here in Asia, we've still got months!!



And there's also the July 2007 Vanity Fair Africa Special Section guest edited by Bono. Download Youssou N'Dour's playlist through iTunes; all the proceeds to benefit The Global Fund.

LOVEDAY

If ever a girl needed an excuse to go shopping in Cartier, here's the perfect one. Today is Cartier LOVEDAY and 20% of sales of their LOVECHARITY bracelet (and 10% of the rest of their LOVE line) will go to various charities around the world (in Hong Kong it's UNICEF, in the US it's the Elie Wiesel Foundation for Humanity). The cord comes in dusty pink as well as a few other colours. It might make for a great Father's Day gift; maybe I can get BL to convert it to a more functional key chain or get two and convert to cuff links.

Interesting Poolside Read

Was going through the latest Skoll Foundation e-newsletter and came across this item from SustainAbility: "Raising Our Game: Can We Sustain Globalization? is a new report that looks out to 2027 to examine future scenarios for the world’s sustainable development, and to propose a new set of rules for business to rise to the unprecedented challenges ahead. The interplay of sustainable development and globalisation is defining the future and the stakes for the planet are rising. Raising Our Game: Can We Sustain Globalization? looks at the trade-offs involved in future choices over environmental and social value, and at the role still to be played by innovation, entrepreneurship and the emerging economies of the South. There will be winners and losers, but no more business as usual."

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.

Goodwill Download

So Madonna's "Hey You" put me to sleep, but at least I slept well with visions of good that would come from msn.com donating a maximum of US$250,000 (US$0.25 per download) to the Alliance for Climate Protection. You can download the song now for FREE in the next 6 days (you don't have to listen to it unless you are suffering from insomnia). Also, check out the line-up for the upcoming Live Earth concerts in New York, London, Sydney, Tokyo, Shanghai, Johannesburg, Rio de Janeiro and Hamburg on 7 July 2007.

Hong Kongers: Please Join the Clean Air Foundation!

I returned to a very grey, gloomy, hazy, rainy Hong Kong after 4 days of blissful blue skies and fresh, clean ocean breeze. We, in Hong Kong, all complain ad nauseum about the poor air quality and visibility, so here's our chance to do just a tad bit more constructive than complain!

Please join the Clean Air Foundation (please see below for brief summary of what they are doing) by taking just 1 minute of your time to click this link and fill in your basic contact details.

The Clean Air Foundation is a recently created not-for-profit Hong Kong company aimed primarily to promote and protect the right of the people of Hong Kong to breathe clean air. The Clean Air Foundation will pay particular attention to local sources of air pollution and to the role of Hong Kong in both causing and solving local environmental problems.

The air in Hong Kong is killing us slowly but surely.

The government of HKSAR is not fulfilling its most basic responsibility to provide clean air for its citizens. The aim of the Clean Air Foundation is to galvanise the support of citizens and concern groups to find appropriate recourse to exhort the HKSAR government to leave behind its empty promises and hollow rhetoric. We must immediately begin to address the many local sources of air pollution for which something can and must be done.

Please join the Clean Air Foundation and be part of promoting and protecting the rights of Hong Kong citizens to breathe clear air. To make your voice heard, please press "reply" and fill in the information below and send to: info@cleanairfoundation.hk or visit our website and fill in the form online at www.cleanairfoundation.hk

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Dinner with Filmmakers

It's not every day that I get to have dinner with an Academy Award-winning film director, so I was really excited when TN & FY invited me to a dinner they were hosting for their filmmaker friends in town for last week's Entertainment Expo. Filmmakers at the dinner included: Stanley Kwan, Anne Misawa, Corey Tong and Ruby Yang (still recovering from all the Oscar parties).

I arrived at Ning Po Resident's Association's restaurant pretty much at the same time as LC and SK. The thing with filmmakers is that you often know their work, but you don't really know their face. To my slight embarrassment, I actually didn't know that the guy I was sitting next to was the SK, one of Hong Kong's more respectable directors. He was talking about a project that he had been working on, but has since been passed on to Chen Kaige. He had been pushing for Tony Leung to take on the lead character, a Peking opera star, but to no avail. CT and AM are in town finalizing financing for their upcoming feature film, a triptych of love stories spanning three cities around the Pacific Rim. RY is on her celebratory PR rounds for The Blood of Yingzhou District, which won an Oscar for Best Documentary Short:



We were all extremely entertained by her photos from the Vanity Fair Oscar party. There were snaps of her with Penelope Cruz, Leonardo di Caprio (who she says only took a picture with her because she had an Oscar in hand!), Forrest Whitaker and a whole host of other Hollywood celebs. She never thought the film would get nominated, let alone win. On the night the nominations were to be announced, she even told her team to go home and not wait for the call (fortunately, they didn't listen). I tried to get her to convey how she felt at that moment at the ceremony where they announced her film as the winning film, but I suppose it's not something that can be reduced to a one-liner; all the blood, sweat and tears of so many people involved in that one ephemeral moment. When you watch the trailer for her film, indeed, the Oscar and all the glamour surrounding it all gets reduced to a mere triviality. The Blood of Yingzhou District is actually part of a larger project to raise awareness about HIV/AIDS in China through PSAs produced by their organization, The China Aids Media Project.

For those in Hong Kong interested in screening the film and meeting Ruby Yang, FCC has organized a dinner this Friday, 30 March 2007 at 7:30pm. If you miss this one, there'll be a fundraising screening in May.

Inbox Worthy Events: Save Star Ferry Demonstration Tonight, Global Youth Fund, Venice Biennale Forum

Arrived at the office this morning greeted by 30+ of FS's bright, cheery Form 6 students (they were on their way to a picnic, but the got stranded when it started to rain.). They were all sitting on the floor with an awesome picnic spread, which included boxes of Krispy Kreme of course. I was scanning my inbox while munching on fish balls and chicken wings while listening to them question FS about her love life: "How long have you been dating your boyfriend?", "When will you get married?", "How many kids will you have?". It all brought to mind Deborah Solomon's Questions for Dr. Louann Brizendine in this Sunday's NYTimes Magazine. Dr Brizendine, whose debut book is "The Female Brain", explains why "a women's brain structure a good deal of her behaviour, including a penchant for gossiping and talking on the phone".

"The hormone of intimacy is oxytocin, and when women talk to each other, they get a rush of it. For teen girls [and I would have guessed that FS's inquisitive Form Six students were all around 17 years old] especially, when they're talking about who's hooking up with whom, who's not talking to whom, who you like and don't like -- that's bedrock, that excites the girl's brain," explains Dr. Brizendine in the article.

Nothing like real life observations of scientific theory. But what I really wanted to know from the girls was how they would respond to Global Youth Fund's This I Believe essay project, for which an e-newsletter had landed in my inbox. In addition to believing that it would be a waste if beautiful girls did not get married and have children, I wanted to know what else these girls believe in? What are their "personal philosophies, core values and beliefs"? I had met Charles Tsai, the executive director of Global Youth Fund over the summer in Vancouver and was really impressed by his idea to start a fund that invests in projects, selected by youth around the world through a democratic process, addressing some of the world's most urgent challenges such as climate change, poverty, disease etc. So it was great to read news of some of their most recent accomplishments.

There are two other events that landed in my inbox this morning, worthy of a plug:
TONIGHT, 15 December 2006, 7pm: There will be a demonstration to save the old Central Star Ferry Pier from the wrecking balls.
Tomorrow, 16 December 2006, 2-5:30pm @ Permanent Exhibition Gallery, Hong Kong Heritage Discovery Centre, Kowloon Park, Haiphong Road, Tsim Sha Tsui: A forum of Hong Kong's
Venice Biennale (Architecture) exhibitors. Vice Versa was the first exhibition of Hong Kong architecture at the Venice Biennale International Architecture Exhibition.

25 Nov: Shop at Tod's to Benefit Mother's Choice

FY just forwarded an email invite to a Tod's special day of shopping in Hong Kong to benefit Mother's Choice. For tomorrow only (Saturday, 25 November from 10:30am to 7:30pm), "a special discount can be enjoyed and part of the sales will be donated to Mother's Choice". Participating stores are: Tod's Landmark in Central and Tod's Pacific Place in Admiralty only.

INSEAD Meeting In Asia: TNT & WFP Partnership

The theme for this year's INSEAD Meeting In Asia was Risk & Responsibility. When I saw the program had a session on Partnerships between Business and NGOs, and saw that one of the speakers was INSEAD alum and good friend Brett Rierson (he works at the UN World Food Programme), I became interested in attending. The rest of the programme, was pretty much business as usual -- much of the topics addressing risks as it pertains to the financial markets. The theme of the weekend and BR's session inspired me to sponsor copies of our Little Cream Book: Goodwill for the Councils Dinner, because I do believe that a lot of the risks that businesses face stem from social and political instability and that the corporate community can and should take responsibility for mitigating some of the risks through corporate & social responsibility programs.

As panel moderator, Luk van Wassenhove (Henry Ford Chaired Professor in Manufacturing, Professor of Operations Management at INSEAD) put it, "It's not about doing good; it's about doing what makes good business sense". While the bottomline benefits of a CSR program are not often immediately apparent, the business case that BR and Luke Disney, Global Director of Communications at TNT, presented made a strong case that doing good can be good for business. Their partnership has been a real success story. TNT's partnership with WFP is more than just about making a one-off cash donation. In fact, it is really an effort that started from the top and has gotten TNT employees of every level involved. The story on how it all started with CEO Peter Bakker reading an article with the appalling statistic that a child dies every few seconds from hunger is just one example of how great things can be inspired by simple things. Much of TNT's nearly EUR10 million annual support is helping WFP get food to where it's needed, especially in emergency situations such as when the tsunami hit. The key to the partnership's success, I believe, stems from the fact that TNT's management treats the partnership like a business unit; they expect the partnership to yield results and dividends for both parties rather than just seeing it as charity. The benefits for TNT can be measured in a boost in goodwill from the positive publicity, but more importantly, there is the boost in morale among TNT employees, leading to better employee retention, higher levels of job satisfaction and performance. On WFP's side, the TNT partnership has allowed them to feed on average 90 million people, 10% more than before. WFP has also benefited from TNT's knowledge transfer and investment in IT and training within their organization.

So now all this has got me thinking about what CSR programs companies in the travel industry such as airlines, hotels, tour operators, etc. can get involved in. Any ideas??

Seeing (RED)

It's just been one of those humdrum weeks, where life just kind of floats by without you noticing. But then, we got an order for our complete set of Little Cream Book yesterday; all the way from Brazil! That was new for us. Thus far, the majority of our online sales have come from the US with only a smattering from UK/Europe. That's why I am truly enamoured with the internet. Imagine that: a small business like ours sitting in a speck of a city called Hong Kong, planning trips (I've planned a Paris honeymoon for a client in Seoul I've never even met from hotel rooms) and publishing luxury travel address books, somehow finds its way onto the radar screen of a consumer in Rio de Janiero, who then has enough faith in online transactions to use paypal.com to pay for our books, we get the order in our mailbox and we ship our books to the other side of the world. E-commerce is truly a revolution for small businesses.

So it really annoys me when I get an email from (RED) informing me of all the cool (RED) products that one can purchase, where part of the profits go towards eliminating AIDS in Africa, and yet, I can't purchase them! I really wanted to buy GAP's ultra-cool INSPI(RED) t-shirts to give to friends (in fact, had a friend's b-day in NYC coming up), but of course, they don't take credit cards without US addresses and they don't ship outside the US. Also wanted the Motorola (RED) MOTORAZR with (RED) Bluetooth H500 headset, but of course, the phone is only sold buddled with US cellular networks. Fortunately, I can buy the (RED) iPod nano. As always, Apple, with Steve Jobs at its helm, is at least one step ahead of everyone else. The (RED) movement should be a global movement. The power of consumerism isn't just confined to the UK (where this whole thing started; they even have a (RED) AMEX, where 1% of what you spend gets put to good use!! I want that card, but of course, I don't have a UK address) and US; Asians spend tons of money!!! So I really, really hope that we can get in on the (RED) action soon. In the meantime, all those in the US & UK, buy (RED) for Christmas, and those in the UK, should charge it to their (RED) AMEX!! The rest of us will just have to gift lots and lots of (RED) iPod nanos, which is uber-cool.

On another note, those who are looking for a quick bit of beach R&R can now look beyond Bali and Phuket. Koh Samui, which has been cleaning up its act as an up-and-coming stylish beach destination, has made it onto our radar screens with next year's Four Seasons resort opening. Reservations are being taken for bookings starting 1 February 2007, just in time for Chinese New Year sun-seekers. For a ski and snowboard bunny like me though, I'll be warming up with bombardinos in Cortina.

For New Yorkers: This Friday's Project by Project 8th Annual Food & Wine Tasting Benefit for Asian Cinevision

Can't believe I forgot to post about Project by Project (a group of social entrepreneurs that works to raise money to benefit the Asian-American community) earlier, especially since we sponsored a couple sets of Little Cream Book for their silent auction as well as copies of Goodwill for their celebrity goodie bags.

Anyhow, Project by Project's Food & Wine Tasting Benefit is tomorrow night (Friday, 29 September 2006) from 7-10pm at Copacabana (560 West 34th Street). Tickets are US$200 at the door (VIP tickets including entry to the VIP reception from 6-7pm are US$300 at the door). Proceeds from the event benefit Asian CineVision.

There will be celebrity sous chefs cooking with the chefs and team from participating restaurants. One celebrity sous chef, in particular, caught my eye: Georgia Lee, director of Red Doors, winning-film at the Tribeca Film Festival 2005. CT had sent out an email inviting his friends and family to join him at the film's opening screening and party in San Francisco last Friday. Alas, I was not in San Francisco, but it sounded like a blast. Wish I could see the film too. It would be cool if I could buy it off of iTunes.

If you can, please go and help Project by Project raise lots of money for Asian CineVision (to benefit Asian-American filmmakers) by bidding lots and lots of money on our Little Cream Book sets as well as other cool items such as round-trip JFK-HKG business class tickets on CX, Sony PSP, Armani Exchange Moto Jacket!!

Dream Enterprises, Good Enterprises

Funny how themes of entries these past few days have kind of flowed from one to the next. Following on from yesterday's "follow-you-dreams" theme, I had the pleasure of attending a dinner talk by fellow Bryn Mawr alum Claudia Shaw d'Auriol and Delicious co-author Dominica Yang. Not only do I love a good follow-your-passion story, I am also a sucker for do-good stories (like buying copies of Marisa Acocella Marchetto's Cyber Vixen the other day when I read about it in daily candy; part of the author's proceeds go to providing breast care to underprivileged women at St. Vincent's Comprehensive Cancer Center and The Breast Cancer Research Foundation.).

So here were two amazing women, both taking time from their work (Claudia works for Chanel and Dominica has her own interior design business) and family obligations, doing what they love and doing it for the good of others. Over lunch one day, they decided they both shared a common dream -- to write a cookbook. They decided they should do it together and that 100% of the proceeds should go to two Hong Kong charities: Children's Thalassaemia Foundation and Priscilla's Home (one of Fu Hong Society's homes for the handicapped). Both charities are close to the heart of Dominica, as she herself is a carrier of Thalassaemia and her family founded Priscilla's Home.


It was particularly fun to hear about their trials and tribulations of self publishing as well as about their passion for cooking. The main message, though, was that of a Nike ad -- just do it. Life's too precious to come up with a million and one excuses not to do the things that you love and care about.

And then, this morning, in my inbox of various e-newsletters, there's CITY's Page One blurb on RED being the new Black. I love RED's manifesto about the power of choice. For me, as a consumer, it's an easy choice. What is there not to love about it -- brilliant products + brilliant marketing to do good by raising money for The Global Fund to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. Sounds like a great, do-good business model to me!

What good will you dream up today?

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.

Asia On My Mind Worldwide Benefit Dinners: Celebrating 50 Years of Asia Society

Last night kicked off Asia On My Mind, the month-long celebration of Asia Society's 50th anniversary with a series of benefit dinners hosted in US and Asian cities. Being an American-born Chinese who spent a few of my early years of education in Hong Kong, I've always appreciated the need for an organization such as Asia Society, which endeavours to increase understanding among Americans about Asia and vice versa. Incidentally, another Rockefeller-founded cultural exchange organization, Asian Cultural Council, is our very good office neighbor.

Of the eight dinners held in Hong Kong, Reel Occasion appealed to me the most, because I'm interested in film and I had had chance meetings with both of the special guests. The dinner was beautifully and expertly hosted by Stacey & Robert Morse (In the place of menu and place card, there was a make-shift film cannister placed at each place setting. The guest's name was printed on the film cannister. The menu unwound on the film portion of the film reel inside.), and featured special guests Barbara Robinson and Nansun Shi. Barbara is the Managing Director of Columbia Pictures Film Production Asia and Nansun is Executive Director of Film Workshop Ltd. (the film production company she runs with her husband, reknowned film director Tsui Hark). Columbia Pictures Film Production Asia has produced international hits such as Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and Kung Fu Hustle, as well as KeKeXiLi, an amazingly moving and stunningly-shot, award-winning film about the true story of a group of volunteer mountain patrols in their quest to stop the poaching of antelopes in Tibet. I had the pleasure of meeting the film's director, Lu Chuan, last summer when I was organizing a corporate retreat in New Zealand where he was invited as the guest speaker. We had had problems getting a film print of KeKeXiLi to New Zealand for the private screening; Chinese authorities would not allow Lu Chuan to bring a print with him. So I emailed Barbara my request (I had her contact from at least 8 years before, having done some film script translation for her, but had had little contact with her since), and both she and Columbia Picture's office in Auckland was amazingly helpful. They sent the film print all the way to a small cinema in Te Anau and then one of their staff met me at the Auckland airport to pick-up the film print on my way back.

I met Nansun when I interviewed with her for a job before I decided to start WANLILU. At the time, I was toying with the idea of going into the film business, so I sent my resume to Barbara, who then forwarded my resume to Nansun! In addition to having met her on that occasion, I also listen to her morning CR1 (Setting off on a Clear, Beautiful Day from 7-9am Mondays-Fridays on FM88.1, in Cantonese only) talk show most mornings on my way to work. I am a also fan of Nansun's tireless efforts to lobby the Hong Kong Government to do more in the realm of creating a better environment for the creative industries. She has great vision and is one of the few influencial people in Hong Kong who can see the big picture beyond the short-term. So when I saw the double billing of two my most admired film baronesses for the Reel Occasion dinner, I could not resist.

Reel Occasion was a hit -- 2 brilliant and entertaining hosts, 2 inspiring and engaging special guests with 20 other interested and interesting guests (on my table were many financiers). There are 40+ dinners remaining for the rest of this month in the US and around Asia. There's an amazing one in Shanghai on 23 June at Jean-Georges Shanghai with Chinese film directors Chen Kaige and Zhang Yimou, fashion designer Vivianne Tam among several other special guests.

So if you happen to be in Hong Kong, New York City, Shanghai, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Houston, Washington D.C., Mumbai, Houston/Dallas, Sydney/Melbourne, check out the schedule to see if you can join Asia Society for what will most certainly be a wonderfully engaging and memorable evening! Dinners in Hong Kong run until next Saturday, 10 June. Themes range from a Bollywood Chic Midsummer Night's Celebration hosted by the Harilelas to a discussion on Japanese investment in China hosted at the Consul General of Japan's Residence. Most in Hong Kong are probably already sold out, but it's worth checking for last-minute cancellations (In Hong Kong, call +852 2103 9808).

Make Poverty History One Trip at a Time

I had picked up the the Live8 concert DVDs at the airport in January, but only got a chance to go through them yesterday. I had them playing on background most of the day while I was in the office. Seeing the crowds of people getting together on that one day, 2 July 2005, to appeal to 8 world leaders to take a meaningful step towards eradicating world poverty by committing to cancel the debts of some of the world's poorest countries as well as providing AIDS medication and education to children. I wondered what's happened since then? So I clicked onto the one.org site (This is the US campaign site, part of the global effort. The global site is: whiteband.org and the UK site is makepovertyhistory.org. As campaign names go, I think my favourite is "Make Poverty History". It's a clear call to action.). It just so happens that they just launched the new "Click Spot" on MTV ((the spot can be seen on the site's homepage as well), just a few hours ago in fact. It's a simple, yet powerful ad. A celebrity snaps his or her fingers every three seconds to highlight the fact that another child has just died somewhere in the world of extreme poverty.

It was also interesting that my friend GS, who works in Kunming in China's Yunnan province for a UK-headquartered AIDS organization had wondered in his email to me: "I'm reading Laozi (in English) and wondering if his views on leadership can help the ego-centric NGOs in China." It got me thinking about leadership. We don't really need leadership when all we want is the status quo. We need leadership when we want to see things change, and the underlying assumption here is that they should change for the better. In my mind a leader must:
1. Have a clear vision of the outcome of change (i.e. eradicating poverty and AIDS deaths) and steps that need to be taken to accomplish this (i.e. cancel debt, provide free education, medication to those who cannot afford it)
2. Communicate clearly that vision and inspire people to take the necessary actions
3. Be humble enough to understand that there are many world views and many different interests at stake and see the issue from each person/party's perspective
4. Believe in the greatness within each person and not in his/her own individual greatness, because ultimately, if you convince people that they have the power to change the world, then they will change the world
5. Never give up. Always believe, always have passion and compassion.

Bono and Bill Gates are the two highest profile faces in this cause. But for each of them, there are thousands, even millions who are leaders in their own right and their work should be celebrated and supported. This is what inspired me to put together Goodwill. Every time a person travels elsewhere in the world is an opportunity to gain more understanding, an opportunity to reach out, an opportunity to creat change.




This was no more evident than on my visit to Kenya several years ago. I visited a school near Loisaba and a school in the Masai Mara. In the Masai Mara, which has benefitted from a lot more tourism than Loisaba, the school I visited was much more developed. There were even girls in the upper grades (even though they made up a small percentage of the class). The children received better medical attention, had better facilities, stayed in school longer. Tourists helped by bringing supplies, making donations after their visits and supporting tourism companies that created local employment and gave back to the community by building schools, providing fresh water to villages, providing medical attention. Of course, there is the issue that most of the owners of these lodges and camps and tour companies were foreigners (many Americans and British), which some lodges such as Loisaba address by helping the local community set up their own tourism operations (in their case, the Star Beds are operated by the local community). Real change can only happen when the poorest gain access to capital to empower them to realise their own dreams.

This is where microfinance comes in. It's not enough to educate the poor. They end up moving to urban centers seeking employment. Because supply of educated and skilled labour exceeds the rate of jobs created by the economy, false hope is created and there is a whole community of educated and disenchanted, disenfranchised people. There is nothing more dangerous or disruptive or wasteful to a society than a disenfranchised group of desperate youth. We should not teach people English just so they can look forward to serve American tourists at five-star resorts owned by multi-national companies. We should teach people English so that they can look forward to one day owning and operating their own bed & breakfast or even hotel chain, so that they can create websites to market their services to the global travel consumers.

America's strength is its ability to attract a talented pool of immigrants with the hope of citizenship, becoming American and living the American dream. For all of the US's inequities and imperfections, that dream still has a chance of becoming a reality for many. But any real chance to build stable democracies around the world has to be founded on creating economic opportunity for the people (not just those who govern and their cronies). This is where we as tourists can help change the world one person at a time -- each time we travel, we can ask someone how you can help the local community. Does the hotel we stay in do something great for the local community? Spread the word. Find out what kind of work grassroots organizations are doing and spread the word. Was the local guide or driver particularly helpful? Spread the word.

Informative links:
ashoka.org
gatesfoundation.org -- while I've never been a Microsoft fan, I do admire the work that the Gates' foundation does
schwabfound.org
skollfoundation.org
10-16 April 2006 Newsweek International Edition article on "Travelers Making a Difference"