So, you’ve gone through the whole pain staking process of securing yourself an internship – congratulations! But the hard work is far from over. You don’t want to waste a brilliant opportunity, so here are 10 things to do to make sure you really get the most out of it.

In no particular order…

1)      Stay Organised

Make notes as you go along and write down everything crucial that you learn; useful hints and tips, insider advice and any other contacts you gain such as useful websites or email addresses of handy people to know. There would be nothing more annoying than getting home and not remembering that crucial tip your boss told you for success, or the name of the his cousin’s company in America that could offer you some work experience. Have a system to arrange your notes so information is easily accessible. You can quickly find what you are looking for and when you get back home it isn’t a horrific mess of unintelligible paper with scribbled notes.

2)       Ask Questions

Do not be shy to probe the people around you for information and advice, but make sure it’s in a professional, polite way. You are there to learn so don’t be shy to query anything you are unsure of. They will be pleased you are taking an interest and are serious about your career choice. You will be surrounded by professionals in the field you want to go into so it’s silly to not pick their brains whilst you have them at your disposal.

3)      Make Connections

Make yourself known and get your name out there to as many professionals as you can. Introduce yourself to all the new people you encounter; tell them why you are there. Some of them may even be interested in working with you in the future. You can never have too many connections, so don’t be shy and start introducing yourself!

4)      Shine

There is no point being on an internship if you aren’t going to impress them. Always try your best and do the job to exceed their expectations, not just the bare minimum they ask you to do. Be someone that fits in, is polite and who people want to work with. That way, why wouldn’t they want to employ you after you’ve finished? Ask if there is anything more you can do and remember if you show you can do a good job, you will get given more responsibility which will look great on your CV.

5)      Be Keen

Don’t moan or turn down the jobs that you think are beneath you. You’ve been given the jobs for a reason and besides, you might learn a new skill – even if it is remembering how everyone in the office likes their tea. No matter how menial or trivial they seem don’t question them, as long as they are within your employee rights. If you constantly feel that you aren’t being challenged, politely ask for a task with a bit more substance as you still want to appear eager to learn. At the end of the day they are your employers who will be writing your references and considering you for a permanent position!

6)      Know Your Stuff

Yes you are there to learn but you will look a bit silly if you literally know nothing about the company you work for or the industry you are working in. Know the basics and do some research. That way when they ask you ‘have you used this programme before?’, even if you haven’t used it you can truthfully say ‘no, but I’ve heard about it and have done some research on it’.  Chances are to get through to this stage you will have a good understanding of the company and industry, so make sure they know you aren’t completely clueless.

7)      See it as a Learning Experience

Yes, internships can sometimes lead to a permanent position afterwards or once you have graduated from university but don’t get upset if this isn’t the case for you. Your internship is essentially a learning curve. It’s a placement to gain as much experience as possible and make some contacts. Don’t be disgruntled if it turns out to be nothing more. The fact that you’ve done an internship will open doors for you in the future.

 8)      Keep a Diary

At the end of each day write down what you did, who you met and why. At the end of the internship placement you can look back and remember each important meeting you sat in on and have a record of each deadline you met on time etc. Don’t wait until the end of the placement to try and write down everything you can remember. Also, keep a list of skills you acquire such as new computer programmes or personal attributes and an example of when you demonstrated it. That way when you are being interviewed for roles and are asked to give a situation when you displayed ‘innovation’ you already have a list to refer to.

9)      Ask For Regular Feedback

Make sure you are actually doing the job right and are keeping everybody happy. Ask your boss to give you some feedback regularly so you will know if there is anything you need to change to impress them more rather than merrily continuing without really making an impact. Don’t be scared of criticism – it should be constructive and only given for your own benefit.

10)   Improve

There is no point coming out of an internship with the same amount of knowledge and skill as you started with. Make sure you make progress and if you aren’t sure how to do something make sure you ask. They’d rather you asked and did it right than completely wrong and then have to re do it themselves.

You can read the full version here!

What are current market conditions like in China?

China’s GDP slowed in the first quarter of 2012 to 8.1%, the 5th decline in a row as China’s traditional staple drivers of investment, exports and consumption took a different direction.  One of the main reasons for this is down to the Government’s twelfth 5-year plan to achieve a steadier and more sustainable trajectory which interestingly is one of the factors that the IMF took into account when predicting that China will overtake the USA as the world’s largest economy (at purchasing-power parity) in 2017.   While things may have slowed down when compared to their average year on year 10% growth over the past 30 years, China is still experiencing rapid development.  Construction projects can be seen on every journey, foreign businesses and expatriates are coming in their drones, and, with China set to become the world’s largest, youngest, luxury consumer market in the world in just a few years, retailers and luxury brands are opening up shop not just in 1^st tier cities, but 2^nd, 3^rd and even 4^th tier!  The IMF say that China will account for more than a third of the predicted 3.5% growth the world economy will experience in 2012 and we remain confident that China will stay strong for quite a few years to come.

How is your business performing and what are the key issues you face?

There is probably only one time in our lives that we will experience what is happening in the current economy – a struggling West and a rising East.  With youth unemployment at an all time high, employers wanting experienced graduates and everyone’s eyes on China, we have a very unique situation where students and graduates need to gain the necessary work experience required to secure full time employment, and are willing to make the investment.  By providing a comprehensive internship programme that focuses on Business, Culture, Language and Career Development, people from around the world are seeing the value they will get out of our programme and wanting to join to ensure that they are in the best position possible to secure that ideal job!  The main key issue we face is living in a country where new rules and regulations can be introduced at the drop of a hat, without any warning!  Visa regulations, for example, we monitor very closely.

What is the standard of recruiters in China?

Generally pretty good.   Certainly comparable to that of the UK.

What are the hot sectors in business or which markets are under performing?

Renewable Energy is really hot at the moment with both private and state companies getting in early to be part of the Government’s ambitious effort to reduce the countries energy consumption by 16-17% per unit of gross domestic product (GDP) by 2015.  Engineering, Architecture, Design and Construction all remain strong.

China’s capital markets took a big hit last year (2011) which has impacted on the performance of securities firms, with profits nearly halving.  Residential real estate is not performing as well when compared to the last few years amid fears of what is a huge bubble, bursting.

How do you believe your company and the Chinese recruitment markets will develop?

We have some really exciting plans laid out for the next few years including opening further offices in new locations, launching an intensive Mandarin programme where applicants will live and breathe everything Putonghua (including staying with local families) as well as the launch of a new programme that focuses on serving the local market, which will be one of our major milestones.  The market will continue to be prosperous with more and more university graduates, higher standards of education and a market where longevity on your CV is something that is considered by many, not important. The latter, resulting in a continually high staff turnover market, providing endless opportunities for recruiters.

How is social media impacting you in China?                    

Social media and the internet in general, has always been a sensitive subject in China and a reported 30,000 Government employed staff monitor what’s going on each day to ensure control and order is achieved.  The “Great FireWall of China” doesn’t always make it easy to build an online social presence but with proxies ready available it’s not too much of an issue making new friends on Facebook.  Once we move into serving the local market there are plenty of social media sites we will join including Weibo, Renren and Kaixin.  These, in conjunction with Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and YouTube, will ensure that we are always posting relevant, interesting and entertaining content to the West and East.

Justin Yifu Lin's new book is called "Demystifying the Chinese Economy"

By Justin Yifu Lin Chief economist, World Bank

Whether we are on the verge of an “Asian Century” or not, one thing is clear: there has already been a dramatic shift in the geographic centre of the global economy.

China is now front and centre, and its role as a leading dragon can be beneficial for growth prospects for the world economy.

The world desperately needs engines of growth right now, and fortunately – with continued strong and pragmatic economic policy making – China can provide that impetus.

China is now the world’s second biggest economy and the largest exporter of goods, with 9.6% of the global share, followed by Germany, the United States and Japan. China has an income per capita of $4,400 in current dollars and is well established as a high-middle income country.

China’s foreign reserves, which now exceed $3 trillion, are the largest in the world.

Behind this rise, there has been a dramatic structural transformation entailing rapid industrialisation, a massive movement out of agriculture, and an impressive stretch of trade-related growth.

The ‘advantage of backwardness’

China has the potential to grow dynamically for another 20 years. This is in part because, as of 2008, the country still had a capita income that was just 21% of US per capita income – measured in purchasing power parity terms. This US-China income gap is evidence that a big technological gap still exists between China and the industrialised countries.

China can continue to enjoy the advantage of backwardness before closing the gap.

By 2030, China’s income per head (measured in purchasing power parity) may reach about 50% of that in the United States. By then, China’s economic size (in purchasing power parity terms) may be twice as large as the US; and measured at market exchange rates, China may be at least the same size as the US two decades from now.

The challenges China’s economy is set to become a “lead dragon”, says Justin Lin

Yet China and other emerging markets must confront several serious challenges in the coming years. First, contagion from the Euro area and sagging demand in high-income countries could dampen hopes for moderate world growth over the next few years. Indeed, a double-dip recession in advanced countries cannot be ruled out as a downside risk.

Nationally, China must tackle what amounts to a triple imbalance.

Engineering a shift towards domestic demand and moving from an over-reliance on export-led growth represents the first re-balancing.

The process should be balanced between consumption and continued strong growth in investment. The latter is critical for industrial upgrading, raising incomes, as well as developing “green economy” sectors and protecting the environment.

The second re-balancing entails a structural transformation to reduce income disparities. In spite of the general improvement of living standards, China has shifted from a relatively egalitarian society in 1979 to a country with alarming income inequality. The Gini index [a common measure of social inequality] reached 41.5 in 2005, approaching the level of Latin American countries. The widening of disparity may threaten social stability and hinder economic growth.

The third imbalance relates to environmental costs that have accompanied rapid growth. China needs to shift its stance vis-a-vis short-term growth and long-term environmental sustainability. The future structure of production must shift towards cleaner technologies.

China’s growing reach

As a result of superior growth in the developing world, we are now in a multi-polar growth world, with economic weight shifting from the G7 economies [of seven leading industrialised nations] to developing economies.

China’s contributions to the multi-polar world are manifold. For high-income countries, China’s growth will expand markets for their capital goods and intermediate goods exports.

Many developing countries are still major producers of agricultural and natural resource commodities. Chinese consumption and production growth will continue to support adequate commodity prices and thus help these exporters.

In addition, the Chinese government and Chinese firms will also provide funds for natural resource and infrastructure investment in emerging markets and low-income countries. This is already happening, and it is likely to continue. In particular, there is a growing role of Chinese finance in the Africa region – the developing region with the most constrained access to finance.

Also, as China undergoes industrial upgrading, it will leave space for other developing countries to enter the more labour-intensive industries. Chinese enterprises are expected to relocate their existing production to other lower wage countries as they upgrade to higher value-added industries – just like Japan and East Asian economies did a few decade ago.

The difference is that, because of its size, China may become a “leading dragon” for other developing countries instead of a “lead goose” in the traditional flying geese pattern of the international diffusion of industrial development.

Over time, there is also the possibility of the gradual emergence of the Chinese Renminbi as a global reserve currency.

This is something that would require many fundamental reforms in the Chinese economy; however, it is almost inevitable given the growing relative strength of China in the multi-polar world.

Justin Yifu Lin is the author of Demystifying the Chinese Economy, the 18th book to his name. He is the World Bank’s chief economist and senior vice president for Development Economics. Before joining the World Bank he served as Founding Director and Professor of the China Centre for Economic Research (CCER) at Beijing University.

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-15861161

In its race to provide future growth, the speed at which China is adopting new technologies is breathtaking.

Take one example: high speed rail.Five years ago, there was not a single kilometre of high speed track in China. Today, it has more than Europe and by 2012, it will have more than the rest of the world put together.

A vast, spotless factory in the port city of Qingdao is in the front line of this new industrial revolution. It is here that the giant state-controlled train-making company CSR developed a Chinese high-speed train.

China’s leaders “played a strong role in making all of this happen”, says CSR’s chairman, Xiaogang Zhao.

Foreign know-how

China’s leaders started by demanding that any foreign company bidding for a part of the massive proposed high-speed programme to share its technology with a Chinese partner.

The Japanese engineering giant Kawasaki accepted this condition. A pioneer of high-speed rail, with almost half a century of development to its name, Kawasaki agreed to share its knowledge with CSR.

Siemens of Germany struck a similar deal with another Chinese train-maker.

With access to foreign know-how secured, the government then provided an army of 10,000 engineers and academics to create a Chinese train, Mr Zhao explains.

They did it, he says, in less than three years.

New train

Inside the Qingdao factory, senior engineer Ding Sansan explains how every aspect of the Japanese train had to be redesigned for the faster 350 kilometres per hour running speed that China’s high-speed strategy demanded.

Everyone worked so hard on the project that he can hardly remember his last holiday.

“It was a very big challenge”, he says.

And it is just the beginning.

Mr Ding is now working on a new train, due to be tested next year at an astonishing 500 kilometres per hour.

Unacceptable condition

Having acquired the technology, China is already exporting it.

This year, CSR supplanted Siemens as lead contractor on a new 440 kilometre high-speed line in Saudi Arabia.

Outside China, the speed at which such leading-edge technologies are being adopted is causing concern.

But China now plans to go one step further.

Under a new proposal, “indigenous innovation”, foreign companies bidding for Chinese government contracts will not only have to share existing know-how.

They will also be required to conduct any new research and development work in China.

For some companies this will prove an unacceptable condition, according to Brenda Foster, head of the American Chamber of Commerce in Shanghai.

“It will keep American companies from being able to compete in the Chinese domestic market,” she says.

“For some companies, that could actually put them out of business.”

Hindering ideas

While America and China argue over “indigenous innovation”, China is taking a new, direct approach – encouraging highly-skilled Chinese-born expatriates to return home from overseas, bringing their ideas and expertise with them.

But some of these experts have found that China’s top-down, centrally-controlled culture, so successful in delivering technologies such as high-speed rail, can prove an obstacle to innovation.

Top medical scientist Professor Guosong Liu, moved from America to take up a post at Tsinghua, China’s leading scientific university.

There, the memory and intelligence-enhancing drugs he has been developing in the US and Germany are being tested on thousands of rats and mice.

Frightened students

For such meticulous, labour-intensive work, Professor Liu says, China’s hierarchical culture is perfect.

But when it comes to innovation, “this culture inhibits the evolution of new ideas”, he says.

Professor Liu finds his Chinese students to be very different from their American counterparts.

Where American students are active in the lecture hall and constantly challenge what they are told, Chinese respect for hierarchy and authority means that even at a top university such as Tsinghua, it is hard to generate creative debate, he explains.

“I always say there’s no stupid question. Ask me something stupid – it’s better than nothing”, Professor Liu says.

“But they sit there. Maybe they’re scared of me, but they’re not challenging me”.

Competitive edge

Another top scientific returnee, Professor Shi Yigong, shocked his colleagues at the top US university Princeton by turning down a $10m research grant to become Dean of Life Sciences at Tsinghua.

Professor Shi also believes China’s hierarchical, top-down environment stifles creative debate.

“Every time you say something, you have to think whether what I said appeases my superior,” he says.

“You begin to limit your innovation. I think you basically have less innovative factors in your mind”.

Companies outside China may fear the break-neck speed at which China is adopting leading edge technologies.

But when it comes to new ideas and innovation, Professor Shi says, China’s top-down, hierarchical culture means Europe and the US look likely to keep their competitive edge for some time yet.

Click here to view the embedded video.

BEIJING – American students dreading the prospect of finding employment during tight economic times are looking to China to boost hiring credentials.

Even as the number of Chinese students enrolling in American universities’ skyrockets to nearly 150,000 a year, thousands of Americans are looking to study in China in the hopes of gaining a leg up in the job environment back home.

For Chris Max, who’s spent the past two and a half months studying Mandarin at The Hutong language school in Beijing, knowing China equals success.

The 22-year-old, who recently graduated from Santa Clara University in California with a degree in finance and economics, chose to dip into his savings to fly to China and learn the language with the hope of increasing his prospects for employers.

“Being a business major, China is huge right now. Having a business background and being able to speak Mandarin will be a big selling point to employers,” the Washington native said.

Max, who in addition to housing and airfare spent more than $1,300 to enroll in the three-month language course, said seeing China on the ground and being able to understand the culture will be crucial when he finally steps into his first job interview.

He is one of thousands of students being encouraged to trek across the sea as the US pushes to make China a focal point for American students seeking global experience.

Spearheaded by the 100,000 Strong Initiative, a deal struck between US President Barack Obama and President Hu Jintao in 2009 to dramatically boost the number of students studying in China by 2014, the effort is a sign of the US’ desire to bridge the language and cultural barrier that often divide the two economic superpowers.

“The US-China relationship is probably the most consequential,” said Carola McGiffert, director of the 100,000 Strong Initiative.

“It will only grow in importance over time and we need to make sure we’re investing in growing a generation of leaders who have the cultural and language, and other skills, to manage this relationship in the future.”

Though the program is far from its lofty 100,000 student benchmark, the pace of US students coming to China slowed to 1.7 percent in 2010 from more than 20 percent just four years ago, McGiffert remains optimistic.

“We’re confident we can hit the 100,000 mark. It’s going to require a lot of effort, a lot of work on both the US and Chinese side.”

China is now the 5th largest destination for American students with more than 14,000 studying abroad in China in 2010, a large jump from 3,000 students a decade ago, according to the Institute of International Education (IIE) 2011 Open Doors report in November.

“Students are particularly interested in learning the Chinese language and culture because of China’s increasing importance in the world economy and the growing relationship between the US and China in business and many other sectors,” said Peggy Blumenthal, senior counselor to the president at IIE, a US nonprofit that promotes students studying abroad.

Blumenthal echoed Max’s drive for coming to China, saying that it is not just the students that are realizing the value of a China education, but employers as well.

“Students and their future employers recognize that time spent in another culture prior to graduation imparts valuable lessons about collaboration and problem-solving that prepare the future professionals for global careers,” Blumenthal said.

But, unlike their Chinese counterparts who study in the US for four years earning full degrees, American students cracking books on Chinese soil are often studying for a short period of time to gain enough credit for education institutions back home.

While there are around 14,000 students coming to China to study each year, only 1,660 are enrolled full time in Chinese universities, Blumenthal said.

At Tsinghua University, one of China’s most prestigious universities with alumni including President Hu Jintao and former faculty members such as John T. Thort, former president of Goldman Sachs, US students make up the second-largest foreign nationality in population among the student body.

With 350 American academics enrolled in both full- and part-time courses, Wu Yunxing, director of foreign student affairs at Tsinghua, said they’ve seen a surge in the number of US graduate students joining their ranks.

“We have seen more and more American students enrolled in master’s programs. They’re trying to know more about China and get knowledge dealing with Chinese issues in international relations and public policy programs,” Wu said.

Wu also attributed the rise in advanced university degrees, with most American students focusing on humanities, to an expanding number of English-taught courses.

He said another draw for US students enrolling full time at Chinese universities is the comparably low tuition costs and financial support available to Americans interested in overseas studies.

At Tsinghua University, Wu said the average cost of an American student earning a degree in engineering is around 30,000 yuan ($4,761) per school year. While it’s significantly higher than the average 5,000 yuan paid by Chinese nationals because of financial regulation from the government, it is markedly lower than the cost for top tier education at schools such as Harvard or Yale, where the average price tag runs from $35,000 to $40,000 per year.

Combined with the large number of government programs from both China and the US, qualified students are finding that cost is no longer a barrier for studying halfway around the world.

China Daily

• Nearly three in four (73%) cited study abroad as important when evaluating the resume of a job candidate for a junior-level position.
• Furthermore, the study, conducted by Global HR News and commissioned by The Scholar Ship, showed that eight in 10 of the HR executives surveyed believed that a study abroad experience was an important factor for overseas job placement within their companies.
• “As the world grows ‘flatter,’ the value of an international approach to higher education cannot be overstated,” said Dr. Joseph Olander, president of The Scholar Ship, “The HR executives confirmed what we have sensed in today’s international business environment.“

Additional findings from this study include:

• “Cultural awareness/sensitivity/tolerance” and an “international perspective” topped the list of the attributes valued by HR executives among prospective employees with study abroad experience.
• Two-thirds (67%) of HR executives surveyed said that a study abroad experience within a culturally diverse student environment distinguishes a job candidate from others studying only with students from their own country.
• Eight in 10 (80%) HR executives believed that an international education experience is important in distinguishing a candidate for overseas job placement.

According to a study done by NAFSA: Association of International Educators, ‘Global competence is increasingly valued in the workplace’ also:

A 2003 RAND study surveyed 135 Human Resource managers from 75 companies. By consensus, the most important employee skill sets were:
- Substantive content/technical knowledge of the primary field of business,
- Managerial ability, with emphases on teamwork and interpersonal skills,
- Strategic international understanding and
- Cross-cultural experience

Cross-cultural competence ranked 5th out of 19 attributes that ‘Make a successful career professional’ according to the same study.

Of surveyed employers, a significant number agreed that candidates with international study experience are likely to possess key skills such as:

• Cross-cultural communication skills (98%)
• Independence (97%)
• Cultural Awareness (96%)
• Maturity (94%)
• Flexibility (90%)

In an article from Butler University, ‘The Value of Study Abroad,’ research was presented from the Council on International Education Exchange (CIEE) to determine how much employers value a job applicant’s study abroad experience:

In a survey of 352 U.S.-based CEOs, senior managers, on-campus recruiters, and human resource professionals, CIEE found that while a majority of these employers valued international experience, different people valued different types of programs. Human resource professionals favored longer, yearlong programs to develop the skills they wanted; senior managers, however, favored shorter, 14- to 18-week internships. Employers who had studied abroad themselves placed a higher value on all study abroad experiences.

According to Marie-Louise Hansson, a Swedish career adviser and author of ‘The Global Business Person: What is the Secret for Success,’ there are seven global skills. In looking at this list below, you will find that most of these skills are gained, strengthened, and highlighted through any study abroad experience:

1. The ability to deal with ambiguity and constant change—and love it.
2. The ability to be informed about the industry and where the power is located.
3. The ability to take moderate risks and step forward in an unfamiliar situation.
4. The ability to act in a diplomatic way and build lasting relations—in the real and in the virtual world.
5. The ability to create visions about the future and how you, and your organization, fit into the larger picture.
6. The ability to create strategies as well as put them into practical plans and actions.
7. The ability to execute leadership, regardless of position, and have respect for different nationalities, cultures, and religions.

Kimberly Larsson, assistant directory of the Office of International Programs at North Central College, in Naperville, Ill, states in her article, ‘Packaging Your International Experience’:

As college students study abroad in larger numbers and increasingly diverse locations, employers are correlating this experience with employability. Study abroad reflects independence, cultural sensitivity and awareness, self-confidence and reliance, as well as language proficiency. Other new skills can include problem solving, dealing with ambiguity, managing a limited budget, handling situations diplomatically, and acting as an ambassador and a leader. Students also gain an international perspective and country-specific skills that can be useful for potential employers when thinking about a certain market, overseas office, or customer base.

In the article, ‘Considering the Reasons to Study Abroad’ from Dummies.com:

Studying abroad typically gives your resume a nice boost and improves your post-graduate employment prospects, particularly if you’re considering a career in business, international affairs, or government service. Nowadays, employers actively seek college graduates who have spent time studying abroad because they want employees with an international knowledge base as well as foreign language skills.

The same international skills that make you more marketable for employment are also valued by graduate schools. These skills include cross-cultural communication skills, analytical skills, teamwork, flexibility, an understanding of cultural contexts, the ability to adapt to new circumstances and deal with differences, a developed view of the world outside the U.S., independence, and self-confidence.

So yes, international internships can be a significant help.

NOT long ago, I was stuck in a dead-end job near Greenwich, Conn. I was in my early 20s, overeducated with a series of non-performing degrees from New York University and Columbia, and frustrated. When I saw the Occupy Wall Street protesters on TV, fed up with the economic status quo in the United States, I saw myself.

Or rather, I saw my old self, before I figured a way out.

To the occupiers and their sympathizers, I say vote — not with the ballot, but with your feet. Now that your encampment has disbanded, don’t just leave Zuccotti Park: leave America.

For China. At least, that’s what I did. It was the best decision I ever made.

In February of last year, I moved to Beijing, having landed a job teaching American culture and English at Tsinghua University. While I was not a global neophyte, I had never set foot in Asia. China had 1.3 billion people, and I didn’t know any of them.

But now, after living almost a year here, I feel that China is my second home. My work is fulfilling and my workload is manageable enough to give me time to travel. I have found friends among China’s large expatriate community, my colleagues and, of course, my eager students. The food is outstanding and caters to both the gastronomically meek and the profoundly adventurous.

Most of all, my experiences here have been enriched by the Chinese people themselves. Their patience, courtesy and hospitality leave me in no hurry to return home anytime soon.

And guess what? I’m not so special.

China wants you. Job prospects are abundant. The effects of the Great Recession of 2008 may be felt in the United States for years, but they barely scratched China. Demand for native English speakers is white-hot. ChinaJob.com, TheBeijnger.com and Dave’s ESL Cafe are just a few of the places where you can search for work.

There are problems here, of course. China is a nation that unapologetically rejects Western democracy — and yet I am surprised to find that Chinese citizens and the news media have as much freedom as they do. For my money, CCTV News English, a channel offered by China’s major state television broadcaster, is more fair and balanced than Fox News.

Pollution is bad. Beijing, like much of China, is often enveloped in what local residents euphemistically call “mist.” But there are nice days, too, more than you might think.

Many critics have rightly pointed out the shocking failures of the Chinese food safety system — the most famous being the tainted-baby-formula scandal of 2008. But what you may not know is that China meted out swift justice in that case to the perpetrators. That is more than can be said for the handling of many corporations in the United States that have harmed their consumers and remain unpunished.

We live in grim times, but fortune favors the bold. So if you are reading this from some occupied encampment, a soul-crushing cubicle, your parents’ basement or anywhere else in America really, maybe you should consider paying me a visit.

I’ll buy you a duck.

Fritz Demopoulos, 43, a Southern Californian and MBA grad from UCLA’s Anderson School of Management hasn’t mastered Mandarin, but has scored two Chinese Internet successes over the past decade. In June 2011, Baidu invested $306 million in the travel search engine Qunar he formed in 2005 and he stepped down as CEO, turning management over to Chinese staff. Demopoulos, who was born in the U.S. to a Greek dad and Austrian mother, got his start in China as business development manager for Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp., working alongside Wendi Deng in the late 1990s in Hong Kong and mainland China, and running information technology portal Chinabyte.com. He next joined NASDAQ-listed Chinese portal and gaming company Netease and worked closely with the CEO on a two-year turnaround. In 2001, his first China startup, sports portal Shawei, was bought by Hong Kong-based Tom Group for $15 million.

With his credentials, Demopoulos could write his ticket. He’s exploring opportunities to start another business or become an active investor, and plans to continue working in either Hong Kong or Beijing. “I don’t think I will be based at the debtor to China, ie the U.S.,” he says.

Richard Robinson, 43, hails from Boston and still drops the “r’s” with his accent though he’s long ago broken through the language and cultural barrier on a whirlwind tech startup career in China. His journey has led from helping to jumpstart the original Rupert Murdoch-funded Renren to a VP at wireless and entertainment player Linktone to spearheading seven startups in wireless technologies – and even running his Beijinger wife’s venture, Kooky Panda, a mini-Zynga mobile social gaming business, on a miniscule $40,000 budget before Infinity Ventures funded it. “In China, you can live on a penny and a big dream,” notes Robinson, who points out that burn rates or monthly costs to ramp up a business in China are about one-tenth of those in Silicon Valley.

The latest gig for the hyperkinetic Robinson is heading up international for Beijing startup Youlu, a mobile phone address book that leverages social network connections. Youlu’s CEO is rock star Zany Zeng, the former chief technology officer at China’s Facebook-plus site, Oak Pacific Interactive . “I really feel we have lightning in a bottle with this one,” he says.

Spurred on by seeing his friends and colleagues venture over to China and succeed, Silicon Valley tech executive Elliott Ng found he could not resist the lure to go eastward. In early 2011, the overachiever ‒ Harvard MBA grad, ex- Microsoft product manager, McKinsey associate, co-founder or director of four tech startups, and angel investor – joined Google to lead product management for Greater China. He’d lived in the Bay Area for 14 years, his wife had a full-time job as a pediatrician, and their three young boys were pretty happy where they were.

But in July, he and his family relocated to Beijing. “Silicon Valley is still the best, most open startup/tech ecosystem in the world,” says Ng. “Beijing is the center of Chinese culture, government and information technology.” The one drawback? Polluted Beijing air.

Family reasons have kept social media goddess and Taiwanese native Christine Lu from making the break herself. The 35-year-old single mother has her support network in Los Angeles for her six-year-old son, and she’s managing to stay very involved as an entrepreneur at the intersection connecting China and the U.S.

Her latest adventure is Affinity China, a private network that provides members access to unique luxury, lifestyle and travel experiences – an area that matches her interests well as a shareholder in two swanky Shanghai cocktail bars, CVRVE and M1NT.  She’s had some grass-roots experience in China as well, designing and launching two clothing lines for her family’s apparel business in the Mainland, launching an e-commerce site for women during the dotcom days, and working in Shanghai for five years from 1999 to 2004 as head of marketing for TV Shopping Network.

Her conversational Mandarin is a plus and quarterly trips to Shanghai keep her plugged into what’s happening. “If it wasn’t for my parents forcing me to visit China for the first time in 1995 as a freshman in college, I would be late to the China game today playing catch up. That trip changed everything. The entire city was under construction. There was no skyline in Pudong. There was no expressway to the airport,” recalls Lu. “But there was an energy, a feeling that in ten years, things were going to be much different . . . and I wanted to be part of it.”

Since moving to China in 1997 to study Chinese at Shanghai’s East China Normal University and marrying a Chinese woman he’d met on campus, suave Parisian native Bruno Bensaid, 39, has not looked in the rear view mirror. After working in finance for Cisco Systems from Singapore, he moved back to Shanghai and managed a tech accelerator that launched several venture-backed mobile startups from France in China, then joined French venture firm Ventech to do China deals, and in 2008, started his financial advisory group ShanghaiVest in 2008.

He’s well rooted in the tech community as a founder of the Shanghai chapter of industry networking group MobileMonday and an angel investor with Shanghai’s tuned-in AngelVest. “I’m very involved in business development with the startups I invest in,” says Bensaid, who’s recently backed a luxury travel network, a mobile apps engine for kids and a social marketing company with an all-star team.

Robert Strawbridge, 42, grew up on Long Island’s North Shore and spent summers in Newport, Rhode Island and Maine, later moving to San Francisco in time to ride the dotcom boom as IPOs were soaring. In 2008, he left behind his Cape Cod style home overlooking the Bay and rented an apartment in Beijing to catch the next big trend. A Hambrecht & Quist alum from the mid-1990s who later co-founded a sportswear manufacturer and worked as a VP at a Zurich investment bank, Strawbridge launched Beijing-anchored Sea Cliff Capital International in 2008.

The boutique merchant banking firm specializes in cross-border transactions with a focus on assisting clean tech and energy-related companies expand into China and raise capital. Strawbridge, who served in the U.S. Marine Corps for five years and was a combat diver, likens his China experience to “deployment” and says he’s in Beijing for the long haul.

As excerpted from Startup Asia (Wiley, Oct. 2011) by Rebecca A. Fanni