My 'Win in China' story in today's Asian Wall Street Journal
(10/4/2006)
NOTE TO READERS (9/11/2023): Given tense US/China relations today, it is hard to believe that 16 years ago I was the only non-Chinese judge on CCTV’s Win in China, a reality show where young entrepreneurs competed for a huge prize. (The other judges were legitimate big-shots, including Alibaba’s Jack Ma and the CEOs of Lenovo.) Then I wrote an Op-Ed about it for the Wall Street Journal. You can see it by clicking the following link. At that point I thought there was a real chance that the US and China would learn to get along. Oops.
I have an op-ed piece in today's Wall Street Journal Asia about Win in China, the hit TV show in China I wrote about in the blog last week. You can read the article on the Opinion page of the Wall Street Journal's website by clicking here.
During my visit to Beijing week before last I was able to spend time with Anna Wang, the show's extraordinary creator. Win in China is a reality show where 120,000 young Chinese entrepreneurs compete to win 10 million RMB ($1.2 million) in venture capital financing to start their own business.
I wrote this story so Americans could see that its time to throw out the image of China as people in Mao jackets riding bicycles. These kids are capable, educated, and very hungry for success. Show the article to your children so they can get to know the competition they will face in the global economy. If that doesn't light a blue flame behind them to do their homework I don't know what will.