A businessman's adventures

Chen Pin (陳彬) is becoming a big talk-show star in Taiwan. Every morning he gets up at 6 and prepares himself well to speak on TV or radio talk shows or at private gatherings. He impresses his talk-show hosts and their audiences by detailing his dramatic experience of doing business in China for the past 10 years. While most of the other talk-show guests speak from observation and analysis, Chen gives personal examples to prove his points. He is sharp and goes straight to the point.

Chen, now in his fifties, was born to a Hakka family in Sinpu (新埔), Hsinchu County. He studied economics in college and after graduating ran a stainless-steel factory in Taipei. Out of curiosity, he went with a small group of Taiwanese friends to China shortly after the Tienanmen Square Massacre in June, 1989, at a time when China was facing international boycott from most democratic countries in the world. After that China visit, he decided to fold up his business in Taipei and he moved to Shanghai the next year.

Chen has since published nine books in the last five years, all dealing with his adventurous business experience in China. His latest, titled Changing Your Head to Find the Money's Way (換個腦袋找錢途) hit the market in May and has again generated a discussion both in Taiwan and in China about his viewpoints. Furthermore, several of his books, such as Immigrating to Shanghai and My Experience in Shanghai have been bestsellers in Taiwan. On top of that, government officials and brain trusts on both sides of the Taiwan Strait have privately asked him to give lectures after having read his publications.

By the time he got settled in Shanghai, Chen again set up a stainless-steel factory there with friends from Taiwan. After a couple of years, the friendship went sour and his partners ganged up with the Shanghainese to take over his company. A few months later, he invested in a bakery chain operation with people he met in a private club in Shanghai only to find out later that the woman managing the entire business was the girlfriend of a well-known Taiwanese gangster. His investment capital of a few million NT dollars evaporated into thin air not long after. These are just two incidents among others that cause his temper to flare up every time he recalls his days in Shanghai.

Chen never took legal actions against his Taiwanese compatriots in a Chinese court. He believes taking those actions would be a complete waste of time, energy and money. In fact, he did seek legal advice from nine different lawyers in China at that time and every one of them advised him not to take his cases to the court for the simple reason that the Chinese court does not process business dispute cases between Taiwanese residents in China unless there is homicide involved. Nobody knows exactly why.

After Chen folded up most of his business ventures in China, he focused on writing about his experiences, mainly in Shanghai. Although he is now shuttling between Taipei and Shanghai, he is quite outspoken on topics relating to China -- except, perhaps, on Chinese Communist party politics.

One of the most heated debates in Taiwan in the past weeks concerns the export of Taiwan's agricultural products to China. Beijing made an official announcement on July 28 offering Taiwanese farmers a total custom tax exemption for 15 agricultural products importing from Taiwan: pineapples, papayas, star fruits, mangos, guavas, grapefruits, coconuts, plums, peaches, persimmons, loquats, Chinese dates, sakyas (or custard apples), wax apples and bethel nuts. Upon examining the list, Chen came right out to call it a foul. The act surprised many, even Taiwanese officials in charge of the China affairs.