have any, you are a nobody. We registered our company in China, with a logo and a trademark. By the time of the meeting, we were still working on building a website for it. It is a company in which Hong, and I will put all our efforts into developing. However, we will need revenue to do that. On our way home after the meeting, I receive a phone call from my British HSBC bank in Shanghai. They acknowledge receipt of my details but are requesting me to include my new address before they proceed further because it is missing.
The money transfer request was not carried out. Since I moved to Taicang, all along communication with my bank has been mainly through emails. In Germany, all personal details, including your address, are required during the registration process. I wonder how I have been making all the transactions without blocking my account.
I feel that British banks here are probably not much customer-driven, but more of security-oriented. I thank the bank for providing the information. I ask them whether I can give them my details on the phone, they tell me that it is not possible. I am instead referred to a hotline number to call, but it is not going through. I have tried many times; it is almost a non-existent one. I consider terminating the service, as soon as I gain a foothold in the Chinese banking system.
At the dinner table this evening, we discuss what will happen.
Next, it is then that Hong changes the topic and starts talking about children.
"I prefer our children to grow up in the USA, Germany, or any other country, other than here in China, and also pursuing a doctorate in law is still included in my future". She says.
I tell her that it would make sense to build up a secure source of income. Otherwise, our children would grow up in poverty which would certainly not be in their interest.
"Therefore, I propose to register my Germany company in China to make it public. After we have done that, I could lie on the beach, eat crabs and write books".
"And hunt for women too, don't forget that". She adds. Whether she is sarcastic or jealousy, I remind her of the story of a man who was looking for jobs, but always being turned down, until he one day discovered his talent. He used his ability to become successful.
Hong turns the story the other way around. She compares it to a field where only specific plants grow for others to enter. She claims to mean that I should try all jobs until I become successful, but honestly, I cannot make sense of what she is saying. I know she is sarcastically referring me to dating other women.
Having a simple breakfast of oatmeal and water has left our fridge empty, we have to stock it up again. I open my laptop and browse through the British bank account. I am trying to access my new address and my mobile number, unfortunately, it will not be active, until the following week. It is trouble again; I don't know what to do. Hong sets out to go and buy vegetables. I start cleaning my home office to sort out a backlog of documents that had accumulated during the period when we were away on holiday. The decision made by my employers to terminate the contract, is still fresh in my mind, still ringing in the back of my ears. We all need to learn to tighten our little belts when wen we are at work.
After the anger subsides, I decide to send my ex-boss an email, which I think is legitimate. The mail includes among others the reimbursement of my unpaid travel expenses, my books which were still in Taicang office, and variable salary shares. In my opinion, I have done an excellent job, and therefore I am entitled to such remunerations. I can still not come to terms with the termination of my contract and what they meant by "bad reviews". I had never had any single complaint against me or criticism from any of my bosses.
Maybe if there were any, I would have had a fair chance to make corrections. I am not sure about legal implications on this, but I am trying to demand what I think is due to me.
Despite Hong's warnings about high levels of smog reported for today, I will go jogging along the river. Afterwards, I will prepare a notice for the afternoon speech at the GCC meeting. Where I will be introducing our new company as follows.
"Many of you present in GCC meeting know that I am Franz Übermut and that I have been working in the Chinese business for over twenty years. I have forty years, worth of experience in many well-known international companies. I have been working in the Asia-Pacific region over the years. It is now time for me to take another path. My wife and I will open up a consulting and training company, in the names of ECOCUT in Suzhou. ECOCUT stands for "Efficient Cost-Cutting". We shall specialise in supporting companies on how to deal with cost-reduction, for example, in price negotiations with suppliers, or sales discussions with customers.
That is the way to do it because I believe that success will only come through determination, courage and self-confidence. We shall be guiding customers into self-employment, and how to make right contacts, that is why I am exchanging my business cards with you today. You will be surprised about the potential you have, and how much you can increase your profit. I thank you very much".
That is my speech due for presentation at the GCC meeting. I am aware of the irony of having once been a "victim" of Cost-Cutting myself, and of promoting it even further in China, but this is about business, not a consideration.
Around two o'clock in the afternoon, we drive to Shanghai to meet with my friend Liu Meng, in Pudong district, as we had agreed.
We will be with him to the Hotel Shangri-La, where the GCC
meeting will take place. Liu Meng is my age mate. He studied in China, and worked at Daimler in Germany, before going back to China to be self-employed, with an import and export-licensed trading company. While we are in the hotel café, Liu says that he has in recent years been carrying out his business exclusively through circles of friends, without contracts. To me, this suggests getting low earnings, so I decided that I will instead stick to Germany treaties drawn up in details, as it is the case now.
While in a meeting with Liu, a Germany businessman that we had met with Hong sometime back, walks towards us. I present him to Liu Meng and explain to him the similarities between their companies. They both deal in "fasteners", which is how screws and other small parts are used to connect objects, but with high-quality standards for the industry. In 2009, Sarkozy introduced an anti-dumping law, to sell fasteners from China, with 80% tariffs in Europe. The Chinese government was very upset about this. As a result, it retaliated by imposing a fine of almost 30% on European fasteners, with a diameter of more than six millimetres. It is not good news to Liu Meng. His business and that of my German friend are both going to be severely affected.
After paying the bill for the drinks, we say goodbye to each other and proceed on to the GCC meeting. Guests have already arrived; they are waiting at the entrance. The keynote speaker today is Luxembourg's Ruppert Hoogewerf, the author of the so-called "Hurun Report", on all wealthy Chinese. Hong got a book signed by Ruppert. I managed to snap a picture of the two together. After paying the entrance fee for both of us, we got to the buffet. I start with a dessert because there is no queue yet. The main course follows at the end. I treat myself to the appetizer. After eating, I start reciting my speech.
After the keynote speaker goes off the stage, Hong follows to present her speech of which she gets loud applause. The level of awareness in the German business community in Shanghai, simplifies the work to distribute our new business cards. We only have to explain what we do and how we do it. For this, people have praised the success of our business. A professor of a famous European Chinese EMBA school thinks that without EMBA knowledge, no one will far with a company such as ours. Hong notes that it is only intended to advertise the professor's high school.
"We have been observing that most of the wealthy Chinese are participating in EMBA courses. They have been supporting each other in business for years. You can also become rich when you have crazy ideas and the
