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  1. #1 Come back? Not for all the scooters in China 
    foreign China moto dude bikerdoc's Avatar
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    The Chinese way of working has almost defeated one British entrepreneur, writes Malcolm Moore in Wuxi.


    Workers install the electrics at Bright Mountain Motorcycle factory

    At 8 o'clock in the morning, the Bright Mountain Motorcycle factory in Wuxi, one hour's drive from Shanghai, whirrs into life.
    But as the production lines start rolling and workers begin bolting together the day's order of motorcycles and scooters, one
    person is not happy.

    Chris, who asked that we did not use his real name, is a 28-year-old British entrepreneur determined to make his fortune by
    manufacturing high-end electric scooters in China and importing them to Britain.

    He arrived in the southern city of Guangzhou two years ago to search for a factory that would help him design and build a
    scooter. Without any experience of business in China, or any language skills, it has been a gruelling process.
    Now, with rows of his scooters standing on the floor of Bright Mountain's plant, waiting to be loaded and shipped, he is
    clearly exhausted. For the past six months, he has lived at the factory.

    "If I had known back then how China works, I would have used a factory in England," he says wistfully. "Well, maybe not
    England because it is too expensive, but perhaps Taiwan or Japan. I'm looking at switching production to there for the next
    batch," he adds. From the very beginning, delays have eaten into the budget for his start-up. "I'm £50,000 to £60,000 over
    budget," he says.

    Unlike in the West, Chinese businesses aim to build relationships with their clients before they negotiate the details of any order.

    "We seemed to spend all of our time just sitting around drinking tea with bosses. I played ping-pong for hours with the head of
    one of the largest battery factories in the north. They put us up in five-star hotels and we had endless drunken banquets," he
    says. "But then when it came to negotiating the deal, it kept breaking down."
    Finally, Chris met Victor, a Chinese sales manager for Bright Mountain, who assured him that he could build the exact scooter
    that he wanted. A deal was struck for an initial test order of 25 bikes. Since then, however, nothing has gone to plan.

    "Initially I went back to the UK while they were making the prototype. Victor sent me email updates with pictures of the bike
    and when it looked like it was finished I returned to China," says Chris. "What I found when I got to the factory was no
    prototype, just a wooden frame with an engine in the middle."

    Across the courtyard from the main factory floor, Victor works in Bright Mountain's sales office. He is in charge of foreign
    orders, but the only two other orders from abroad that Bright Mountain has had so far have gone disastrously wrong.

    One, a shipment of 3,000 motorcycles to Germany, ended in acrimony when the Germans found that Bright Mountain had
    substituted the specified parts for cheaper ones, causing the engines to explode. The second order, a monthly shipment of
    1,000 scooters to India, was terminated after the first container was opened and all the bikes were found to be rusty.

    Victor is frank. "I would not buy my wife a bike from Bright Mountain," he says, shaking his head cheerily. "They are too
    dangerous. Of course, that's just the domestic models. Export ones are OK." When asked what had happened during the
    making of the prototype he freely confessed to having lied to Chris. "During all those months, I did nothing. Nothing at all.
    He asked what was happening, so I emailed him to say everything was fine and sent him photographs from a friend's
    factory," he says.

    "Victor is the most dishonest man I have met in my entire life," says Chris, tersely. "But the problem is that no one takes any
    direct responsibility. The workers lie to their bosses. The bosses lie to the salesmen, the salesmen are our point of contact,
    but they don't know what is going on," he adds.
    Other mishaps seemed to occur randomly. When Chris asked for the prototype to be made in black, he received one in
    bright pink. The workers managed to scratch a large number of the bikes and had not ordered enough spare parts to
    replace the damaged panels.

    But now, after several months of delays, there is just a list of 10 small modifications that need to be made before the bikes
    can be shipped to the UK and sold. To get them done, Chris has to visit the deputy head of the factory, a man who Victor
    describes as "the big potato".

    Outside, two workers buff his Mercedes S-Class sedan. "The big boss is the second most corrupt man in Wuxi!" Victor
    says proudly.

    The factory used to be state-owned and much of its office space now lies empty, the staff having been stripped back.
    The deputy head's office is expansive, with a polished marble floor and a solid bronze statue of a bull. The boss sits on a
    sofa in the corner, wearing a light green sleeveless shirt, rimless spectacles and a Rolex. He listens calmly to Chris' demands
    and orders the chief engineer to take care of them.

    "When we were told about the order by our salesmen, we didn't realise how technically difficult it would be," he explains
    later, quietly.

    "We never would have taken it if we realised we would have to come up with an entirely original design and such a high
    standard. It has cost us a lot of time and effort to fill the order."
    Chris returns to the factory floor, but most of the engineers are not working on Chris' bikes, but are instead in a small
    back room, smoking and "designing" new bikes.

    Bright Mountain's design process involves taking apart a well-known bike, perhaps a Vespa or a Honda, and
    reverse-engineering it until the factory has its own pirated version to offer to its customers. Today, the men appear to be
    working on a version of a Harley-Davidson.
    Meanwhile, on the production line, 18-year-old Jiang Shasha says the work is "quite relaxed". She's tiny, and looks much
    younger than she claims to be. She arrived at the factory from her home province after failing China's university
    entrance exam. "We are busier in the morning and then we get to relax a bit after lunch," she says.

    "They work to order," says Chris. "I've seen them work all night and all weekend if they have an order to fill.
    When they don't, they slack off," he explains. At 11.30, there is no sign of the chief engineer, Xiao Yi, or Little Yi, who
    has been put in charge of finishing off Chris's bikes. "He's never around. One lunch he went to karaoke and came
    back sozzled," says Chris in dismay.

    It is not until four o'clock that Little Yi returns, perfectly sober. By then, the activity in the rest of the factory has
    slowed to a virtual halt in the late afternoon haze. Workers stand around chatting as the sun streams through large
    windows onto the production line. Little Yi grumbles at the list of last-minute changes and disappears into his office.

    By 5.30, it is clear that Chris will not manage to ship the bikes on time. "I came here with a list of 10 things. The list
    has now grown and I don't think we'll get anything done today," he says. "My natural instinct is to trust people
    and I have learned not to do that in China."
    On the mountain behind the factory there is a Buddhist temple. Victor proposes that we go there to pray for the bikes.

    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/c...-in-China.html
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  2. #2 Re: Come back? Not for all the scooters in China 
    Moto Scholar moilami's Avatar
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    Awesome story! And yeah, of course I am sorry for the British man (and glad I am not him) but that does not make the story worse. Or wait, actually playing 8 hours ping pong with a factory boss sounds cool :D I would love it to be around there in all that chaos, as long as my money is not involved
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  3. #3 Re: Come back? Not for all the scooters in China 
    Life Is Good! ChinaV's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by bikerdoc View Post
    "My natural instinct is to trust people and I have learned not to do that in China."
    That's a bit harsh, even for an opinion piece. Last I checked, there were good and bad people all over the world.

    Jump into China without experience and this is a good example of what will happen. Spend your days working inside the factories and things tend to go better.

    Cheers!
    ChinaV
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  4. #4 Re: Come back? Not for all the scooters in China 
    C-Moto Not-so-Noob
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    Jeez, I'm glad that not was me. Because I could kill the Victor and Little Yi.

    "Today, the men appear to be working on a version of a Harley-Davidson."

    Mother ov God!!!

    "On the mountain behind the factory there is a Buddhist temple. Victor proposes that we go there to pray for the bikes."

    Amen
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  5. #5 Re: Come back? Not for all the scooters in China 
    Moto Scholar moilami's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Lefthandy View Post

    "On the mountain behind the factory there is a Buddhist temple. Victor proposes that we go there to pray for the bikes."

    Amen
    Gotta love China because of those little quirks xD
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  6. #6 Re: Come back? Not for all the scooters in China 
    C-Moto Not-so-Noob
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    Heh, I'll go to prays for H-D copy to "what-ever" temple.
    Brilliant quality of H-D mixed with briliant quality of Chinese manufacturing, directed by Little Yi and his caraoke... That could be... interesting technological marriage. Don't you think? :D
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  7. #7 Re: Come back? Not for all the scooters in China 
    MCM Chinese fellow td_ref's Avatar
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    lol, Chris is an unqualified business man in China.
    I don't expect nice from a British journalist, but the style is typically extreme negative.
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  8. #8 Re: Come back? Not for all the scooters in China 
    Senior C-Moto Guru bigdamo's Avatar
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    This story is old I read it somewhere two years ago.

    To many times I see people think there just going to go to China and start getting things done with out doing there due diligence and getting burnt.Then walking away whinging to anyone who will listen.
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  9. #9 Re: Come back? Not for all the scooters in China 
    C-Moto Not-so-Noob
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    Quote Originally Posted by td_ref View Post
    lol, Chris is an unqualified business man in China.
    But look on his age. I've full respect for him. He taken the hazard of unknown bussines. Of corse he was ittle ignorant person beacuse he did not recognize the culture reality in China, but from the other side, how culd he do it some years ago?
    Quote Originally Posted by td_ref View Post
    I don't expect nice from a British journalist, but the style is typically extreme negative.
    Do you think this is extreme negative? You should see what writes polish journalists. So extremal and stupid bullshits for morons and rightiest ogres you will not see anywhere :D
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  10. #10 Re: Come back? Not for all the scooters in China 
    Senior C-Moto Guru ZMC888's Avatar
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    I know how he feels. Every time I go to a mechanics I have to hover around making sure everything is done properly. No that clutch lever needs grease, that tire is massively over inflated, er how about loctite? that's an engine bolt! You have to constantly bully and complain to get anything done well, seems the locals are like a river, and take the easiest course. There are a few diamonds who do things right but they just can't be brought together as a team when nepotism is part of the hiring process. Plus the few people who do things well usually work for themselves.
    Without consciousness, space and time are nothing; in reality you can take any time -- whether past or future -− as your new frame of reference. Death is a reboot that leads to all potentialities.
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