Day 2  Another day, another dong. Actually, 15,000 dong what you get for your dollar. It’s down by a 1,000 dong since first arriving here a couple of years ago (it still goes a long way, though). The Vietnamese economy, in general, is “off”, just like the rest of the world, but the GDP growth is still something like 4%, which is positive, at least. There is a strong appetite for consumer goods, cell phone and an array of food products, which are varied and unique and sometimes creatively brought from farm to fork…

Days 3&4 Vietnam Journal: Building on a Common Past and an Entwined Future…

Indigo was the sky and bright was the mood in Ben’s home town as the EMC Society celebrated the one hundred and twenty fifth anniversary of the beginning of the IEEE. The Philadelphia EMC Society chapter hosted a gathering of the EMC community that included several of the founders of the EMC Society and the EMC Society Board of Directors.

One hundred guests attended the event at the Ben Franklin museum in downtown Philly to enjoy presentations about the origins of the IEEE and the important contributions its members have made over the years.

The IEEE was formed when the two original engineering societies, the Institute of Radio Engineers and the American Institute of Electrical Engineers merged. The IEEE has been associated with the work of many famous scientists, engineers and inventors, including Thomas Edison, Alexander Graham Bell and Nikolai Tesla, to name a few of many. Considering that these minds were able to elaborate complex physical electrical engineering theories and devices using wood, wire, feathers and fur, it is a cause for celebration. More interesting is digging under and around some of the personalities of the scientific glitterati and the jealousies that inflamed the great early discoverers of induction, radiation and other unseen behavior.

Tesla, for example, despised Edision. Apparently Edison had promised the Serbian wunderkind a bonus of some kind, but shorted him. This incident became part of a life-long feud between the two men whose views of AC and DC were out of phase, so to speak.

But there was no such enmity at our little gathering last month. Old friends and colleagues celebrated a reunion.

The EMC Society was formed just over fifty years ago to address the concerns of radio interference. Since its inception, it has grown to over 4,000 members worldwide, and counts on its roster engineers from every major company in the world.

The meeting was presided over by Graham Kilshaw and Finn O’Connor, chairs of the Philadelphia chapter, and included welcome remarks from Elya Joffee, President of the EMC Society, and Dr Lew Terman, past president of the IEEE.

The event began with a rooftop reception overlooking the heart of Downtown Philadelphia. In attendance were several past presidents and founding members of the society, including Bob Goldblum, Warren Kesselman, Dan Hoolihan, Don Heirman, Dr. Ralph Showers and Andy Drozd.

After the presentations the Philadelphia chapter received the Philadelphia section’s Chapter of the Year Award from President Joffee, and the Philadelphia IEEE section Chairman – Mr. Jack Nachamkin.

Washington Laboratories would like to congratulate the IEEE for one hundred and twenty five years of success and congratulates the Philadelphia Chapter of the EMC Society on being selected local chapter of the year.

Mike Violette, Washington Laboratories

(first published in Interference Technology Magazine Annual Guide 2009)

There are various reasons to consider expansion into international markets. Factors that force companies to look across the border or across the ocean include obvious opportunities for product and/or service offerings, changing or shrinking domestic markets, and a need to “follow the customer”. The current state of the world will settle down to a new paradigm. Will US Laboratories be ready to greet international opportunities?

This article outlines some of the trends in developing markets, based on observations of the unwinding of the compliance market in Asia.

The development of laboratory opportunities follows the development of economies, markets and ultimately, technology. Economic development proceeds from an agrarian-based society to a low tech manufacturing to more sophisticated forms of manufacturing to R&D and, finally, to test and evaluation of the newly-developed products.

This progress drives the development of new technologies. As markets expand, the requirement and demand for standards pushes organizations to develop harmonized approaches for producing goods. This, in due course, creates demands for evaluation of those products to determine conformance with the standards. There blossoms opportunities for independent test labs.

There is an inherent balance, of sorts, between manufacturing and R&D. That is, when the economy has a lot of manufacturing, the historical trend is that the R&D expenditures are relatively low. This is usually because outside interests bring in the technology and, taking advantage of low labor rates, develop manufacturing capability.

This is a common story and has shaped the economic relationship between the US and Japan and the US and China over the past 30 years. The following graph is a qualitative representation of the trends. As a function of the level of development, the more an economy matures (and gets more complex), the lower the manufacturing as a portion of the economic activity. By the same token, the general trend is that the amount of R&D increases in some proportion to development.

This has absolutely a factor in the relationship between Taiwan and China. Much of the manufacturing has shifted from Taiwan to the PRC in the last 10 years. Taiwan still maintains a leadership role in developing the technologies that are made in China. But the paradigm is not fixed for very long. Chinese technologies are rapidly developing. The question is: what does Taiwan (or the US, for that matter) do in the future. The answer is simple: embrace the change and focus on innovation.

Wherefor art thou, Standards?

For developing nations, the experience of the United States (and the Western World) over the last 200 years has essentially been compressed and impressed upon developing countries as they transition from agriculture-based markets to consumer (and, later service-based) economies. The rise in standards of living makes goods more available and the demands for consistent supply of those goods creates the need to evaluate/regulate the process of creating these products and delivering them to the consumer. Who, then, is burdened with assuring that the processes are sound and that confidence in the product is assured? It is really a partnership of several entities, with the government standing at various places in the supply and delivery chain.

The Western world has developed a system of accreditations and certifications that is supposed to keep the system in balance. The governments, usually under the ministries of trade or commerce departments, maintain an oversight position that, even in the relatively-advanced United States, is admittedly uneven and not uniform across the various agencies charged with ensuring free trade while protecting the citizenry. In the West, the testing and evaluation of products is an open process wherein private laboratories compete for business based on a mix of capabilities and required accreditations.

In the Food business, this is called “Farm to Fork” wherein the process is (supposedly) vetted at various stages by a combination of internal validation and external auditing.  A slip-up occurs when malfeasance is at play, such as the recent problems manifest in the salmonella-tainted peanut butter paste. In these cases, private labs and internal labs were (apparently) patently ignored.

(From our experience, it is unfortunate that sub-standard testing and duplicity of some Asia entities has put us on a suspicious footing.)

In developing countries the trend has been to adopt centralized control over the testing of products and, over time, letting the system evolve to an open-market based system. Of course, this creates an unfair, some might say, unreasonable approach in some of the developing countries, because no one is allowed to compete with government labs. However, this process is not really unreasonable; it is an evolution of the product conformity. Ultimately, the situation changes as the market expands and confidence builds in the local technical and regulatory environment, as has happened in Taiwan.

The Example of Taiwan

In the late 1980s, as the PC business was gaining speed, the requirement for the development of local testing capability was the province of the Taiwan government. It was a matter of practicality (as the resources for testing laboratories did not otherwise exist in the country), an evolution in test sophistication and in a not-insignificant way, a result of government control. Reviewing the fascinating history of Taiwan, Martial Law or as it was termed: “Temporary Provisions Effective During the Period of Communist Rebellion” was in effect from 1947 to 1987, a period of forty years. It was not until the country had gained sufficient economic stability and prosperity that martial law was lifted and democratic processes were put in place. The first democratically-held elections were held in 1992.

What does this have to do with testing? Well, testing often reveals bad news—and may force product recalls, product introduction delays and other unpalatable effects; only a stable society can collectively accept bad news (such as product testing failures) and absorb the critical self-examination that leads to positive change.

Thus, in Taiwan, several things happened over a very short period of time: the country evolved from an agrarian-based society in the 1950s to a low-value manufacturer in the 1960s and 1970s to a sophisticated producer of world-class technology—all in the span of about 30 years.

Currently over 30 independent test labs operate in Taiwan, each competing (quite aggressively) for market share with the capability of many of these labs rivaling any in the world.

As previously noted, China is on the same track and, while hard-liners would not admit it, is following Taiwan’s lead in many ways, but with the compression of process and technology development outpacing anything that has arguably happened anywhere at anytime in history.

Taiwan is used as an example because it has matured to the point where it has agreements on standards and conformance that allows for mutual exchange of data and test results between with the US (and other economies). It is difficult to predict the way that China will evolve, but given the track record and, barring some calamitous political or societal earthquake, China’s present system will open up too. For some product sectors (safety and radio frequency law), the government is the sole provider of final testing and approvals. In addition to natural evolution of open(ing) systems, these barriers are being eroded by requirements under the World Trade Organization (WTO) accords that require that various institutions and processes be opened and allow access and competition (product certification is one example, banking and insurance are others).

Looking beyond the examples of China and Taiwan (Japan and South Korea are also fine examples of the above-described evolution), if a lab is looking at expansion opportunities, it may indeed find them in the countries of the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN).

The ASEAN Region

The ASEAN group is composed of the following countries:

Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam with a combined population of 570M people.

The level of development across the ASEAN group are as varied as the countries are culturally. At the top of the economic ladder is Singapore, a vibrant port and a beacon of prosperity—modern in every sense of the word and with a GDP, based on purchasing power parity (PPP) per capita of over $25,000 (2007). On the bottom rung is the dysfunctional Myanmar with a GDP per capita of about $2200. Vietnam, emerging as a fast horse in the development race is a step higher, with a GDP (PPP) of around $3800.

The position on the economic scale generally tracks a country’s sophistication in product testing and conformity assessment development. For example, few to no conformity assessment systems are to be found in places where development is not sufficiently advanced. To set up a laboratory (or to do business in general) is going to require “creative” arrangements.

The Asia-Pacific region market (which is wider than ASEAN) includes the 21 economies of Australia, Brunei Darussalam, Canada, Chile, China, Chinese Taipei, Hong Kong-China, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, New Zealand, Mexico, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, Peru, Philippines, Russia, Singapore, Thailand, United States, and Vietnam. [1]

In our industry, Singapore, Japan and Taiwan are the most “developed” in terms of standards and functional mutual recognition arrangements; this is due to several key factors, including the cultural and business evolution and the development of these nations as technology-based markets.

That is not to say that the other countries do not have a developed testing infrastructure. A simple index is found by perusing the Test Site site listing on the FCC web site. Certainly, Japan is at the apex of the testing infrastructure development. However, as developed as Japan is, there is still not a true “open” process for placing products on the Japan market. At the time of this writing, however, Japan and the US are currently working through the details of a Mutual Recognition Agreement that would allow US Certification Bodies to certify for the Japanese market.

So What About The Opportunities?

With the past as prologue, laboratories looking for the next opportunity are likely to look at a few key issues and, in most cases, be ready for the long haul. The critical factors in making an assessment and developing a plan are:

1. Condition of market maturity
2. Economic track, i.e., how is the country developing. WTO is an important factor because of the requirement to create transparent standards and conformity assessment systems
3. Political stability
4. Physical location
5. Per capita income

When all this is squeezed together, the assessment can be made as to the short and medium term strategy for developing the testing market. My bet is on some of the ASEAN countries. If you view the flow of manufacturing, much of it is moving into the lower cost countries. Granted, much of this is “low tech” at this point, but if history gives us an example, the technologies will eventually flow into these developing countries.

The question is: which country? A piece of the economic part of the solution can be derived from a summary of simple statistics of the ASEAN countries.

At the top of the heap, in terms of GDP is Brunei Darussalem. This country, however, is a kingdom based on oil revenues. I would cross that one off any list. The population is tiny at less than 400,000 souls. Singapore, as mentioned before, is certainly well-advanced, but expensive. The countries at the bottom of the list are affordable, but probably out of consideration because of overwhelming societal complications. Things can be too cheap. Indonesia, while sitting in the middle of the economic pack probably fails the political litmus test, at this time. The interesting group is probably somewhere in the middle of the list, Malaysia, The Philippines, Vietnam, Thailand.

Conclusion

There are many other factors to explore, including corporate will to engage and make the investment of time and money. The lesson that can be taken away, after observing what has happened in the dynamic markets of Asia is that the opportunities are huge, if the balance between informed conservatism and risk can be struck.

The only real way to figure it out, once the pack is narrowed, is to sit on a plane for 16 hours and find out for yourself.

When I was a chubby lad back in the 1960s, one of my favorite things to spend my allowance on was something called Space Food Sticks®: “Good nutrition and lasting energy in a chewy tasty snack.” You see, these exotic neo-candy bars were allegedly developed for the astronauts. They must have had some kind of magic if they were the ambrosia of space pioneers and we Air Force brats coveted them wildly. (You can find out information about the Space Food Sticks Preservation Society at www.spacefoodsticks.com, by the way). The other fond food memory of the space age was Tang®, which was apparently used on Gemini flights to mask the foul taste of some of the drinking water that was consumed on-board. Both of these nutrition items can still found on Earth, but it’s been a while since I’ve sought them out.

TV Astronaut enjoying Space Food Sticks

Is it Captain Nelson? Where’s Jeannie?

The allure of space travel: the Apollo program, heroes in space helmets, artificial food products–all captured my boyhood imagination. All the aging nerds about my age knew the LEM from the Command Module and marveled at the Earth-shaking thrust of the Saturn V launch vehicle. Audacious! So it is against the backdrop of these fine memories we have recently teamed with Aerospace Engineering Associates to support the Constellation Return to the Moon project. Joe and Larry, career NASA engineers late of the Glenn Research Center hosted us on a brisk March day to see the facilities that lie not far from Cleveland (nickname: The Forest City).

Joe Nieberding and Larry Ross of Aerospace Engineering Associates

The program, called “Constellation” is an ambitious effort to reclaim the higher dusty ground of our nearest celestial neighbor. The moon hasn’t gotten any closer since our last visit in 1972 and at a quarter of a million miles away, it will require a new heavy lift vehicle to bring cargo and astronauts to the surface, and back.

There are a couple of drivers for this project. It is not solely a jones to plant our feet on the dusty lunar surface, but includes the goals to support the National Space Policy Directive to replace the Space Shuttle and to complete the International Space Station.

 The Space Shuttle, after 119 flights (as of this writing), is being phased out of NASA’s budget by 2012. What will replace the space station and science missions? Russian Rockets! Hmm. While it’s nice that we are cozy enough to ask our friends for a ride now and then, it’s a little bit like putting your eggs AND your hen in one basket. Hence, we need new kind of launch vehicle.

 Second, the need to advance our state-of-the-art, well, it’s simply the American way. With the changes afoot in the world order–China successes in space for example (they “hit” the moon recently themselves)–there is no small need to keep our edge keen. If one takes the long view that the human race might be around for another few millennia, it’s worth keeping the pressure and funding for the noble objectives of advancing our understanding of Earth and our place in the universe. And it can all be done with less than 10% of a round of AIG bailout.

The basic architecture of the program draws on shuttle launch vehicle plus some of the proven Apollo-era designs. Instead of one big rocket to lift crew and cargo to orbit, the Constellation uses a Crew Launch Vehicle (the Ares I) and a Cargo Launch Vehicle (Ares V). In a break with the Space Shuttle design, the parts and pieces will fall to Earth and be reclaimed for reuse. The crew capsule, however, will not land like a plane (a glider, rather), but will splash down like the first rounds of our experience of returning temporary satellites to Earth.

What’s our piece? Well, considering that the first flight of the Ares I will take place in about 2015, budgets permitting, there are loads of engineering studies that we are planning to work on, including RF analyses, reliability, technology implementation studies, you name it and it’s got a study plan. Consider that mistakes are really not permissible, every millimeter of these rockets are meticulously designed, crafted, analyzed and documented.

To get a feel for our way forward, we paid a visit to the Cleveland area and the NASA Glenn Research Center and Plum Brook Test Facility. Hosted by our friends from Aerospace Engineering Associates, Joe Nieberding and Larry Ross, we got the cook’s tour of the Apollo-era facilities. Impressive is such an under-powered word to use to describe the mechanical and electrical achievements at these two locations.

First stop was a 500+’ deep hole used to perform experiments in the Zero G Facility. It is about as deep as the Washington Monument is high.

Zero Gs. Lots of Ah!s

The facility drops specialized pods with science experiments down the hole. The entire apparatus is in free-fall in a vacuum and, as a result, simulates near-zero Gs.

Desmond Fraser, Rhein Tech Labs, Craig Hillman, DfR Solutions Mike Violette and Steve Ferguson, Washington Labs

Down the tube! Don’t let your glasses fall.

For about five seconds, the experiment records the effects of the microgravity. Various phenomena have been observed and the result has been to modify the mechanics of spacecraft systems engineering, particularly when it comes to fluids behavior. This is critical to understand because (non-solid) propellants are composed of liquids that need to mix nicely in order to burn and provide thrust. Seems that, in zero Gs, propellants tend to separate into their component parts and gloop together in the propellant tank. If the fluids aren’t mixed and available at the nozzle in the right proportion, then the engine won’t start or will burn poorly. Given that there is not a way to get back down to Earth and refill, the efficient operation of the rockets is paramount. These effects were observed in the micro-gravity chamber when it was built in the 60s and, as a result, there are several designs that now are utilized to mitigate this.

 Plum Brook Station

 Next on the tour was the truly awesome Space Power Facility at Plum Brook Station, an hour down the road from Cleveland. Mr. Kurt Shalkhauser provided a walking, driving and talking narrative of the Plum Brook facility, originally a TNT development and test facility in WWII.

Kurt Begins the Narrative

It is no exaggeration to say that there is nothing like the Space Power Facility in the world. The 125’ tall chamber simulates deeeeeep space by evacuating all the air and heating and cooling the area to simulate the “dark side of the Moon” and high noon on orbit. So it’s either hot or cold (but always extremely dry) in there.

The thermal vacuum chamber is sealed by a large pocket door. In the photo below, the white structure in the middle is the door that slides shut and latches for an airtight fit. The door weighs 5 million pounds, about the same as 11.2 million Big Macs.

The 5,000,000 Pound Door and Inside the Chamber

Steve Points to one of the Locking Mechanisms

The upper stage of the Ares V rocket will be set in the chamber and subjected to not only environmental extremes, but will also be tested for EMC and radio frequency characteristics. The chamber is constructed of a double-walled configuration with an inner aluminum shell and an outer concrete shell. The space is evacuated by some enormous pumps and held at that negative pressure for the duration of the testing.

The picture below shows a test of a Delta IV shroud (basically the upper stage of the rocket).

Delta IV Shroud Test

The facility is being upgraded to include a vibration test stand that has a concrete pour (inertial mass—think huge anchor) about the size of a tennis courts. The shaker arrangement will subject the launch vehicle to the stresses encountered during liftoff and ascent. The concrete will keep it from shaking loose. Want to take a ride?

Holy Concrete Pour

After viewing the marvels of the 60s we are humbled by the great efforts of the space pioneers. It truly was a time of soaring aspirations and the inventive spirit. May we continue in the same vein.

Even the boom in the background is tiny

Next month, we’ll take a trip to Windy Wisconsin where we clambered on and inside one of these:

Green and Sleek Windmills

MCBC Steps Out:

Summit with Suzhou Leaders

Doing Business in China

By Mike Violette, Secretary, MCBC

We were “all in the same boat” at the Hyatt Regency in Bethesda on March 20th. Over 200 professionals, business leaders, state and local government turned out to hear some GOOD NEWS about international cooperation. The Maryland-China business connection is a success story that will sail through these tough economic storms. This message was loud and clear to the assembled: Opportunities are in the wind and the Suzhou leadership has a vision for their future.

The delegation of 15 senior leaders from Suzhou city (about 80 km from Shanghai, up the Yangtze a piece) dropped by Montgomery County by way of New York City on their tour of the US. I understand that they were off to Rio de Janeiro next, most certainly engaging Brazilian business interests at an equally high level.

MCBC was well-represented. Our own President Steve Drake got a chance to reinforce the MCBC message with DBED’s Managing Director International Investment & Trade Bob Walker and Maryland Secretary of State John McDonough.

Bob Walker, Steve Drake and John McDonough

All in the Same Boat

Mr. McDonough presented the Honorable Wang Rong, Secretary of the Suzhou Municipality and Senior Leader of the Jiangsu Provincial Government with a Proclamation that reinforced the business and cooperation commitment between the two trading partners.

Mr. Wang shows off the Maryland Proclamation

The Honorable Zhou Wenzhong, China’s Ambassador to the US provided the assembled with fine remarks on ongoing cooperation and the importance of keeping trade ties open and transparent (read: trade ‘wars’ are ultimately bad for both parties).

According to some, the US-China relationship is probably the most bi-lateral economic cooperation in this century. Without suffering any guilt about our unmitigated bias, we tend to agree.

The Meat of the Matter: The Suzhou Vision

During the presentation, the Suzhou leaders neatly laid out a visionary plan for their future. Over the next few years, they plan investments in infrastructure and key technologies that will put them in a pre-eminent position in the competitive coastal economic zones, if they are not there already: for example, currently, 70% of Laptop Computers are made in Suzhou, an astounding level of production. The next few years will see key investments in the several technology areas. Their 2010 goals include the following development and trade activities:

· Precision Machinery: $50B

· Opto-Electronics for Telecom, Integrated Circuit Development and a new generation of mobile telecom: $86B

· Bio-pharmaceutical for tumour and cardiovascular treatments: $2B

· Environmental, energy conservation, waste control: $3B

· NanoTechnologies and new materials: $2B

Over on this side of the Pacific, we have strong commitments to invest, too, but investment numbers like this are reserved for influential friends on Wall Street. I’d rather see a little more of the above spending. One thing for sure is the Chinese commitment to building hubs of concentrated development and manufacturing capability. This tends to create and intense balance of cooperation and competition.

One of the very interesting parts of the approach is the outline of the strategy for this area. In addition to the core technologies, the Suzhou leadership is putting an emphasis on advanced manufacturing methods that have, for a long time, been the purview of the US. Our strength on the innovation front has always been to push the state-of-the-art. It is really part of the evolutionary track any economy goes through, moving from low-tech manufacturing through to advanced materials and productions methods. China, if not matching the US in economic output, already runs parallel in many areas of technology.

The key take-away was that there still is good news out there for planning and investment and the long-term strategy, investing and international cooperation. We would be well-served to first, understand the scope of the development and to prepare for its impact on our technology sectors.

Underscoring the dominant position of Maryland in this regards was Secretary of the Maryland’s Department of Business and Economic Development, Christian Johansson who outlined our home state’s achievements in business and reinforced DBED’s commitment to International Trade and investment. Maryland has the second highest concentration of technology, the highest concentration of PhDs in the workforce and a great foundation of federal, state and university cooperation.

Christian Johansson, Secretary DBED

Montgomery County Council Executive Isiah Leggett and Mr. Wang Rong signed the Memorandum on Strengthening Economic Cooperation and Friendship between Montgomery County and Suzhou.

This document demonstrates the mutual ongoing commitment. The government folks have said it’s a go. It’s really up to us to the biz folks to make things happen.

Isiah Leggett and Wang Rong

And making things happen are our very own MCBC Director Jerry Solomon, President Steve Drake, Director Kristin Mowry and our new friends Wei ling Li CEO of Loci Software and Jimi Jones, Director of International Development for Aquaspace Water Systems.

Loci Software does enterprise development and has 100 engineers in Suzhou already.

Aquaspace makes water purification systems in Forestville, MD.

Juanita Hardy of Tiger Management and Eddie Resende of The World Trade Center Institute in Baltimore are long-time friends of MCBC.

Juanita’s firm is working to develop new methods and processes for helping expand US companies operations in China. Eddie, fresh from emceeing the WTCI’s Leadership Awards puts resources together for international and domestic clients. He also knows where all the good Brazilian restaurants are. Just ask him.

Rhein Tech Laboratories President Desmond Fraser and MCBC Member Tony Lau got a chance to be re-acquainted.

Both are technology mavens (Tony’s background includes satellite communications systems development. Desmond has been operating RTL for over 20 years and is Director of AmericanTCB with offices in Beijing, Taipei, Shenzhen and Shangai).

And, finally, a catered lunch always raises the spirit.

Thanks to the many sponsors and supporters of this event, namely:

• Suzhou Municipal Government
• Maryland Department of Business & Economic Development
• Maryland‘s Office of the Secretary of State
• Montgomery County Department of Economic Development
• Monte Jade Science & Technology Association of Greater Washington, D.C. Area
• World Trade Center Institute
• Robert H. Smith School of Business
• Greater Baltimore Technology Council
• Chinese Biopharmaceutical Association
• Maryland-China Business Council
• Maryland Center China

Mike Violette, March 2009

Friends of MCBC

Washington Laboratories

AmericanTCB

After three hours of standing on the frigid ground, the circulation in the feet slows, the sludge of 50 weight oil sumps in ankles, and stasis creeps up into knees. (The cold still grips the calves, even days later.) Stamping feet to get blood moving, we listened silently to the speeches and, as the words dissolved into the air, we were led, and sometimes pushed, towards an indiscernible exit, ebbing as a tide caught between shore and some unseen reef.

We headed back towards the outdoor johns and where we had entered the assembly ground earlier that morning. We knew to move towards Georgetown, to eventual escape but through an uncertain passage. I know now a little of how a salmon feels, being routed through a fish ladder, except you can’t jump over the other fish here; it’s push and a pull, no leaping. You go with it.

Lulu’s grandmother did.

Standing shoulder-to-shoulder during the ceremony embedded within people of all makes and models for a few hours makes for an interesting community immersion. Characters define themselves and unintentionally emerge: The guy with the round glasses behind, booing each representative of the old regime appearing on the “Jumbotron”; the short gal with the white fuzzy hat and yellow coat that jumped up and down to see over the sea of shoulders; the proud many living their grandparents’ dreams; the colorful couple to the right that nuzzled and tried to stay warm, one clearly very interested in the other—the rest of the world was invisible.

For a few hours, a mass of humanity unimagined in any place—sporting events, shopping venues, even the Beijing subway—were connected. No, not simply connected, sewn together and made a knit of every possible variation of God’s design. A giant crazy quilt of color, size, background, motivation and satisfaction.

The cold limited conversation to a degree although we huddled for warmth: a pack of penguins in parkas. The stentorian audio mortared the gaps between the attendees, sometimes emitting curious sounds: whispered hellos and comments from the dais, the whooshing of the moment through microphones as the wind rose through the tunnels where high-and-mighties (and wouldn’t we give a right arm to be them) were teased out from their warm cars and limousines to the cold and into the New. Other times, casual human conversations are captured: “It is nice to see you again,” said the Senator cum-Secretary to the aging, retired President. We listened closely.

In our immediate crowd, a young man from Mumbai (maybe Chennai? I didn’t ask) waved his flag behind me, his eyes wondrous but uncertain what to make of all this. During the peak of the excitement (and lo, the shrieking was mostly the province of the young women), the enthusiasm and excitement electrified the crowd.

And so it came to pass that the long wistfully-wanted achievement was made and our part was played (to its fullest). It became time to detach and return to some warmth and our daily deeds and wonder about during our reflective moments that which we had just witnessed. [And the witnesses all nodded to each other and said without words: “Yeah, I understand.”]

Here’s a little “shaky cam” of the zenith:

We left in near silence, absent celebratory whooping or hollering, imbued with the sense of leaving a somber Church service. Or were we just all friggin’ cold?!

Out to the exits and through strangling gates, our legs regaining flexibility and warming slightly, our thoughts still simmering. So we, the bit players, the chorus, the gallery, moved out.

We strode west and Zacchaeus’s climbed the short denuded cherry trees to get a look over the heads of the parkas and scarves. A few of those who took a precarious refuge were content to load the branches: two lovers traded a sandwich on their flora floes and laughed between them as the crowd weaved by; they were lost together in their shared elevated space. Others in the cherries purposefully scanned and gave directions, gravely, and accidentally, conscripted by their position to give commands to the crowd. One, wearing a brown jacket and bright orange knit hat and ski mittens—the kind favored by snowboarders—rose on a limb and looked down and to the left, gesturing to those around. He was spied immediately, like a traffic cop in the middle of a hurricane.

“Tree-MAN!” someone entreated. “Where should we go?”

Tree-Man, resolutely, and bravely waved the colors, or, rather, his gloves towards the South. “It’s there, I mean, head THAT way.” With a gesture he lay the way forward, to the left of the natural flow of the crowd. Ah, there, maybe, some unrestricted, some uncontrolled escape, and some relief lay. It was south and so we would do it. And so, on Tree-Man’s word, whole swarms of people moved in that direction, heeding his vision from his perch, but mostly, relying on his certitude.

“Keep moving left, Dad.” My own charge directed and set out at a thirty degree angle from our path, towards some open space.

“Alright, alright. Just be patient. We’ll get there.” Moving with the swarm, lemmings leapt to mind. Then again, even in their supposed behavioral folly, lemmings…have long survived.

Closer to our short-term goal, others climbed atop the porta-potties and danced from white roof to white roof, finding an expressway above the mob. We laughed: so brazen, so ridiculous. Would we have the guts to do the same anytime in our lives? Two port-a-pot leapers chose to take up uncertain positions atop the noisome things (it was too cold to notice, I think) and waved to those who would pay heed—their own part of the throng—around the “necessaries,” one affirming Tree-Man’s anointed safe escape, the other indicating a contrary direction. We chose to follow two-out-of-three unsolicited directions.

We found ourselves half-way through and a grandmotherly lady wearing a long brown fur coat around her body and a round hat (matching) on her head moved tentatively over the brown chalky ground. She was walking with her arm around another lady’s, who had taken her and was talking friendly and slowed her own pace solicitously to match the old woman’s.

Amidst all this company, the old lady had lost her group and, in this kind of crowd, someone who was lost alone and old could have had a life’s dose of fear and near-panic. Instead, a Saint took her arm; in this gathering, malice was absent.

A few dozen paces passed under their joined step when the younger woman’s companion, a man of forty-four or forty-five leaned in to the older lady: “Give me a name, dear.” He took two paces. “Who did you come with?”

“Lulu.” She said quietly, barely audibly. “Lulu. She’s my grand-daughter.”

“Lulu?” Repeated the man. She nodded. Then, taking two big steps, he cleared his throat and addressed the sea of people with a loud “LOOO-LOO!” Again, and towards his left: “LOOO-LOO!”

Heads swiveled and looked his way, but there was no reply. The plodding pace of the crowd advanced. There was only one way Lulu would be found in this crowd: by grace.

The hero kept at it: “LOO-LOOOOO! Your grandma is looking for YOU, GIRL!” The Samaritan yelled with an enviable lack of self-consciousness.

We walked and scanned the crowd. People moved to the crowd’s cadence, but no raised, gloved hand appeared.

“Loo-LoooH?” One more time. We looked around. Still, except for the breathing and the walking.

She gripped her escort’s arm. “That’s alright. I’ll find them. They’ll find me.”

Grandmother trudged steadily but without weariness, the day’s pride warming her from the inside, a stranger’s comfort fast around her arm.

Jan 20, 2009

Leonard Keeps Giving: Another Dig Into The Past

Mike Violette

About thirty minutes from the National Archives is a humble storage complex at Tysons Corner, an architectural inversion of the federalist-style granite building that cradles the scriptures from the founding of our country. For the EMC Society, this humble Virginia facility holds the recovered scrolls from our early summer trip to Leonard Thomas’ inner sanctum, a critical link to the history of our group’s founding.

As Summer reluctantly left the stage to Fall on a brilliant blue-sky Friday, Dan Hoolihan, EMCS Historian, continued his hunt for the near-legendary, possibly mythical list of the names of the original EMC Founders. Words have been whispered, theories proposed and emails exchanged: somewhere in the first secretary’s earthly possessions was that fabled List. That morning, fortified by a life-shortening, but delicious egg and sausage and swiss cheese breakfast sandwich, lovingly assembled on a fresh multi-grain brioche and washed down with a truly above average cup of coffee, we advanced like knights in search of the Holy Grail, but with maybe less ecclesiastical fervor and certainly less clunking, and not on steeds, but in four cylinder sedans.

As traffic in Tysons wound up to its usual frenetic and loathsome neck-muscle tightening swirl, we set forth off to find it: The List.

Once again, we found much more.

Dan’s reverent guidance was simple and direct, I posit not unlike Lewis Leakey’s gentle words to his staff as the first indications of the fossilized bones of Australopithecus afarensis or Lucy were swept clean of eons of limbo. “Careful lads,” I imagine him saying. “The smallest scrap might hold the biggest clue.”

Maybe we would be as lucky and our Lucy would be brought to light. It was with measured optimism that we pulled into a cookie-cutter orange storage company where people keep their treasures that they rarely visit and have mostly forgotten: toys they no longer play with and clothes that don’t fit and appliances that will never again feel a crackling glow in their electrical circulatory system.

Not unlike Howard Carter’s feeling of elation upon discovering the resting place of Tutankhamen (ok, ok it’s a stretch), we gently coaxed the cypherlock open.

With a soft click the door yielded and we entered the climate-controlled tomb of unloved prized possessions.

With a clattering rattle, the overhead metal door was flung open and light bathed a wondrous scene. We had to pause and catch our breath, brows wet, despite the conditioned air of the place. My nostrils filled with the sweet smell of timeless nostalgia; the air swirled mysteriously overhead as a motor kicked to life someplace (did I catch a whiff of mimeograph ink?). I reeled for a moment. In those lovely white cardboard sarcophagi was the march of time, possibly five decades or more: pencil, pen, carbon paper, Xerox, thermal facsimile, so many ways of communicating.

Again back to Carter: I imagined him studying the cuneiform and hieroglyphs under flickering lights. If only we could douse the glaring incandescent lights and hold torches to our treasure, we might then understand fully that thrill.  Unfortunately, the Fairfax County Fire Department generally frowns upon the possession and burning of kerosene-soaked torches in enclosed spaces.

International Business Exchange Council & Invest Hong Kong

Hong Kong: Adventure Beats Money

But Making Money Makes the Adventure Better

By Mike Violette

You have packed only what you can sling over your shoulders, gathered your bags and received godspeeds from and said your awkward good-byes to your family and friends. You jump the train as the sun sets over a harried London rail-yard. Your loved ones wave in the distance as the train gathers speed and rattles rhythms clacked on the tracks running south towards the Channel and the boat that will take your fresh dreams to the Continent and to…who knows? Alighting there, whatever vessel conveys you towards your final destination is adequate and happily accepted, because the pounds and francs and marks are few and conserved like a breath on the moon. A warm, dream-filled night is savored gratefully as the roll of the road rocks away the doubt from a million miles away. Watching the rise of the sun and the view from the window of a creaking lorry, the question of not “why?” but “where?” pounds its insistent query against your aching temples. You know it was time roam the orb; but where to stop?

Eighteen months later, in roundabout fashion through France, Czechoslovakia, Albania, a hop-scotch by air across India—because the roads are only lines on paper, not real things—through Afghanistan of relatively simpler times, through Cambodia, skirting Vietnam because it’s way too hot there in 1972 and up and down the thickly-forested Peninsula of Malaysia, all beautiful in their way, all waypoints to your final destination: the bustling and inimitable city of Hong Kong. Here is where your wake stops, crashing against the shores of the nine dragons.

And if you knew where you’d be thirty-five years on, would you still make the first step? Only you can answer this.

Flash-forward to Tysons Corner in the aluminum and glass edifice of the Capital One building and you’re addressing the gathering of dark suits and business dress. It’s a late-summer early fall day, the kind that Washingtonians stay in Washington to savor a few dozen times a year. You are greeted with smiles upon your arrival. A welcome sight.

Kelly, Amanda, Lisa and Jackie

(Note: the words and recreations of this missive are entirely the fault of the author, who blames them on a sugar high from one too many glazed donuts served at the meeting).

The Assembled have arrived from Northern Virginia, Suburban Maryland and the District to the IBEC Global Business Series featuring Hong Kong’s Solutions for Success in China. They have come to hear Mike Rowse. He has the gravitas of starting and running Invest Hong Kong and has a few words to say about why Hong Kong is a compelling center for business in China (and Asia).

Kevin Reynolds, President of Cardinal Bank and Chairman of the Fairfax County Chamber opens the session and introduces Kelly Jones of Invest Hong Kong, who provides some background on Mike’s storied career.

Kevin Opens the Session Kelly Introduces the Moderator

Saying thank-yous and words of gratitude to the Fairfax Chamber of Commerce, its many sponsors, found here: IBEC Sponsors, Mike begins his measured message:

Mike addresses the IBEC Gathering. Dan and John listen intently.

First a little history: China’s lurch to modern ‘capitalism’ began earnestly in 1976. That year, two founders of Communist China’s government, Mao Zedong and Chou Enlai passed to their divine reward, joining Joe and Karl and the rest of their ilk. The new phase of China’s assent began with Hua Guofeng’s advocacy of the re-re-habilitated Deng Xiaoping. Brushing aside the chaos and confusion that marked the end of the Cultural Revolution and the various purges, condemnations, party infighting and other un-delectable artifacts of Mao’s passing, Deng realized that the way to modernize China was to choose another course of action. Central planning, or, rather control, was fine (and suited to China’s history), but market forces needed to be injected into a moribund and backwards country. The rest, as they say, is history.

Deng invoked a Sichuan proverb and is oft-quoted, “No matter if it is a white cat or a black cat; as long as it can catch mice, it is a good cat.” The new cat that he unleashed took the best ideas to make the country strong, starting with experiments in managed capitalism in Special Economic Zones (SEZs) in the southern part of China.

These zones enjoyed special exemptions and freedoms from the central government control. Deng likes cats

The first SEZ, in Shenzhen, which in 1979 was a sleepy fishing village across the water from Hong Kong, ignited a fit of success that has resulted in stored like this now offering Gucci and Coach and Rolex on the streets of Beijing (the real McCoy, too).

Through measured steps, managing the transition of Hong Kong back to the British, China maintained a steady focus on the future of Hong Kong and recognized its importance in transitioning to “One Country-Two Systems.” The same was done with Macau (the first and last European Colony), which was ceded to the Portuguese and returned to China in 1999.

So, in all this froth—the end-result which businesses can now enjoy—is a Hong Kong that offers the following benefits for organizations that want to make money in China:

1. A strong local market of 7 million people with a per capita GDP of $30K. Twenty million visitors per year. Shopping! Tailored suits! Disneyland!
2. Coordination center for China for sourcing from China.
3. Springboard for WOFE formation in China. Having a HK company own a WOFE in the PRC gives certain tangible benefits and protections as corporate transactions are performed under HK rule.
4. Hong Kong is the center of East Asia and is an entry point for the region.

Mike is followed by fellow Hong Kong-philes Daniel Booth, VP of ISC Trust and John Simon of Crown Relocations.

Daniel Booth weighed in on the legal system. Hong Kong’s system is based on British law, naturally enough, and the Chinese recognized that there was no way to scrap this and implant Chinese law when they reassumed sovereignty over the area. First, the system was working well for a century or more. Second, the Chinese legal system was (is) still in its infancy. Third, the Chinese recognize that Hong Kong provides bedrock for business foundation seeking to develop China as a market and as a sourcing partner.

In addition to a sound legal basis, Hong Kong offers the benefit of an established international arbitration system. The benefits of owning a Chinese venture through a Hong Kong holding company is that the proxy gains protections from the vagaries of Chinese law, a necessary buffer if things get nasty and product liability issues arise.

Intellectual Property issues, unlike in mother PRC, are consistently enforceable. For example, if fake products are being transshipped through Hong Kong to or from China, the legal system provides a mechanism to stop and seize the goods at the port.

Taxes! The corporate tax rates are a maximum of 16.5%. Individual taxes cap at 15%. No capital gains taxes, no withholding, no VAT or sales tax, either. No tax on dividends. It’s nice to be a free-market capitalist, unless you’re running the show at Lehman Bros.

Finally, the financial infrastructure (banking) is sound and transparent. Considering HSBC (Hong Kong-Shanghai Banking Corporation) is one of IBEC’s key sponsors, have a chat with Jeff Henry, here with Leigh Basha of Holland+Knight, another valued IBEC sponsor.

Jeff and Leigh are Bullish on Hong Kong

Finally, the session wraps with John Simon of Crown Relocations. John’s specialization is helping companies and their employees land softly and minimize the thud when becoming expatriates. Some of the considerations to bring to the issue of exporting employees are:

1. Localization (cultural and familiarity)
2. Schooling
3. Navigating the bureaucracy

It is an expensive proposition to place employees in another country. Often, the complications of doing so are left towards the end of the process of establishing a presence in a country. With the significant expense of transitioning someone to start or join an organization in a foreign land, it is critical that the employee is engaged for an extended period of time, not bailing out after a three month stint because the kids’ school is not adequate.

John is joined by Peter Gourlay of the Maryland-Asia Environmental Partnership and Kim Weir with Research on Investment.

Peter, Kim and John

Your eyes open and you stare up at the dim bare bulb in the two dollar-a-night room you’ve booked in Bangkok. You’re alone again. The flight to Hong Kong leaves in five hours. The sheets are hot and sweaty and you pull them over your head…All those suits, maybe it was just a bad dream.

What is shared at a gathering of the International Business Exchange Council? Well, one has to read between the lines—just a little.

Mike Violette September 2008

Vietnam: Words, Pictures, Sound & Motion

Dear Friends,

We offer up a trio of treats from our recent excursion to Vietnam in words and pictures and now, a few short “Videologues”. Take your pick of one or all. Thanks for stopping by.

Press

For Immediate Release

The 2008 Vietnam-US Energy Efficiency Conference, organized by WLL, ATCB and Rheintech Laboratories was recently held in Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi. The conference brought over 100 attendees together to address energy issues facing Vietnam.

More…

 

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 Travel Monologues

 

Vietnam: Four Stories

 

 It’s easy and natural to make broad observations about this multi-dimensional country (Oh! It’s amazing: the traffic, the food, the markets, the hectic pace), but descriptions don’t do the place justice until the impact of the past and the pressure of the present are viewed from the perspective of individuals living it.

Here, we meet a few ordinary men with extraordinary stories and mingle a little bit of history with the sights and sounds of this fascinating country.

 More…

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New! Video Montage

 

 A Light Sprinkle in Hanoi

 The skies opened up on our last day in Hanoi. The Viet Nam News reported that 450mm (about 18 inches) of rain fell in one day. This was the most rain the area had for 35 years.  

 Here’s a quick tour of the very wet Capitol City.

More…

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Moving Around Vietnam

 

The country is in constant motion. This video short is a look at the energy and movement of Vietnam at a unique time in her history. As progress molds her shape, the scooters, boats and cyclos will give way to…what?

More…

 

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Traveling between Taipei and Beijing kills a day. A very fast crow could fly direct in about four hours, but looping through Hong Kong puts the kabash on leaving at breakfast and arriving for lunch. The arcane restriction about direct flights is supposed to expire and it can’t be too soon.  read more…