Best China Blog Awards Winners : A Chinalyst Interview with Experience Not Logic
With the Best China Blog Awards 2008 behind us and the (/+Chinese) new year just in I asked the bloggers behind the blogs that won the Best China Blog Awards 2008 to tell us a little bit about themselves and their blogs. The "Experience Not Logic" blog made it to 2nd place in the Best China Law-Business Blog category with 162 votes.
Background
Blogger : Will Lewis
Blog: Experience Not Logic
About the blogger (from the blog) - "Born and raised in Santa Cruz, California. Received a BA in History from Pomona College. Currently attending University of San Diego School of Law."
About the blog (from the blog) - "The purpose of this blog is to explore the business and legal culture of China."
Blogging platform: Google Blogger's Blogspot
Originally from: Santa Cruz, CA, USA
Age : 26-30
Years blogging : 1
The interview
Q: What was your main motivating force for beginning your own blog?
While working as an intern in a Chinese law firm, I was advised by my boss that China Law Blog was the place to begin my research on Chinese legal issues. After reading Dan Harris's always insightful and often entertaining posts, I found myself frequently commenting at his site. Partly out of guilt from writing so much in the comments at CLB, and partly out of the desire to steer my own discussion, I decided to start my own blog.
Q: What is your blog mainly about? Please tell us a little bit about the general topics you usually discuss in your blog.
My blog is mainly about: 1) synopses of articles about China law and business, and sometimes politics; and 2) comparative legal studies of US and Chinese law. While I'm sitting in class listening to professors wax poetic about the law, I'm often struck wondering, "What legislation has the NPC promulgated to deal with these situations?" Then, it's hard going to sleep at night if I don't figure it out.
Q: What does blogging mean to you? What importance or contribution does your blog have, if any, to yourself or the community?
Blogging is the realization of the promise of what the internet is supposed to be: people from around the world discussing topics that are dear to them on a high level in a public forum. The internet should be about discourse and the flow of information, and blogging fully embraces that concept. Sure, I've broken etiquette and "moderated" comments, and I've gone back and fixed my own grammatical mistakes, and I've even deleted one or two of my own posts that I was concerned about, but blogging is also about defining our own space on the internet.
Q: Did you experience any special or out of the ordinary events or interactions as a result of writing a blog?
I did not expect all of the personal interactions that I've had from writing my blog. The blogging community has been generous, kind, and supportive. I had the pleasure of chatting with Dan Harris when I was first starting out, and Dan was very helpful in suggesting how to administer my blog. Paul Chong at SourceJuice has also offered plenty of advice, which I greatly appreciate.
The best experience from blogging, though, came from the opportunity to have dinner with Charlie McElwee of China Environmental Law. Charlie is a heckuva guy, he has a great sense of humor, and he's brilliant. You get this impression from reading his blog, and in person these qualities are magnified.
Q: How did your blogging help promote you personally? (either professionally, by reputation, additional direct/indirect income or similar)
Blogging has fostered my development of knowledge on Chinese law and business, and I think this helped me get a job working at Invensys Wonderware's Shanghai offices last summer. Wonderware's General Counsel, Steve Halsey, is a gracious alumni of USD who does a lot of work for USD's law students. During a reception at his house he offered me the chance for a summer job in Shanghai after a demonstrated interest in China. It was an incredible opportunity. Not only is Wonderware's home office in California well managed, but Lau Shaw Luen's tight management of Wonderware's China offices have resulted in a good business environment devoid of the stereotypical problems associated with offices in China; most obviously, high turnover.
Q: How much freedom do you feel you have to discuss what you care about in your blog? Are some topics more sensitive than others? Do you include personal details and stories in your blog? Why?
Yes, some topics are more sensitive than other. I self-censor on two topics. The first is that I try to stay away from domestic political topics regarding China that are too controversial. The reasons are that: 1) I think it is irresponsible and paternalistic to get involved in the domestic politics of another country; and 2) I want to avoid angering too many people because I'm entering a service sector labor market.
The second topic is stories that are too related to my work. WONK ALERT: The ethical obligations of US lawyers require the duty of confidentiality, and our communications with our clients are protected under the evidentiary privilege of the attorney-client relationship. I don't want to violate the duty, and I don't want to lose the privilege. Thus, I avoid topics about my own personal experiences in the legal field that might result in either of those two outcomes.
Q: How would you generally describe the Chinese expat blogosphere? Do you personally know any other China expat bloggers? In your opinion, what contribution or role does the China expat blogosphere have, if any?
Generous. The people I've met have always been glad to lend a hand, and it taught me to do my best for others starting their own blogs.
I am pleased to call Brad Luo of China Business Law Blog a friend. Brad writes well-researched posts on tough legal topics. Plus, he's a real swell guy. And, it is always a pleasure chatting with Brad.
Q: Do you have any favorite blogs about China you would like to recommend?
In addition to the other blogs I've mentioned, I'd say that I am consistently impressed by Francis's posts at China Comment. His posts are infrequent, but they are always well researched, focused, and thorough.
Q: How did you first make the decision to arrive in China?
Before a Gideon in the Valley of Jezreel-esque raid 班超 said, "不入虎穴，焉得虎子", or How can one expect to catch tigers' cubs if one does not enter the tigers lair. For an American, is there a deeper tigers' lair than China where the language is difficult, the culture is alien, and the legal reform is in progress? Doing things the easy way is boring, so might as well give the difficult path a go.
Q: What do you think about life in China, the Chinese people and Chinese culture? How would you generally describe your experience in China?
I think that Sun Wukong (孙悟空) is the coolest folk character ever, and I appreciate that his likeness adorns the boxes of peaches sold across China. And I would totally roll into battle with Zhao Yun ( 赵云). But, I'll never understand Liu Bei's (刘备) tears of gratitude for the man who fed Liu his wife in lieu of a wolf, nor will I ever understand why the fictionalized Song Jiang (松江) is celebrated as a hero when he should have stopped crying and crushed the corruptly portrayed Song Emperor.
Most of my interaction with China's people has been with my coworkers. I have worked at a Chinese law firm with Chinese attorneys, I have worked semi-autonomously in Wonderware's offices, and I have worked under the supervision of Invensys's legal department staffed with Chinese attorneys. Without exception the people I worked with were friendly, welcoming, and talented. Even when embroiled in difficult political and economic discussions at lunch, or heated badminton games in the evening, we were always able to respect and appreciate our differences. I couldn't ask for anything more of anybody, anywhere.
Q: What advice would you give new bloggers?
For me, the technical advice was the most helpful. If you're interested, email me and I'll pass some along.
More generally: 1) get in the habit of writing everyday; and 2) write about topics that you find interesting--we'll appreciate it all the more.
Q: What advice would you give someone considering coming to work, study or live in China?
Learn Chinese culture. I don't mean how many hands to grab a business card with. I mean read the Four Great Classical Novels, read some Lu Xun (鲁迅), learn some Chinese history, and you'll find you have the basic ingredients for a great conservation with China's people.
Among the most interesting interviews I had. Thank you, Will Lewis, and have a Happy Spring Festival.