Why China?
What is hidden behind the demographic data on China? We work there. And we're sponsoring Conference China in Beijing in November. China is worth knowing about.
A YI SETTLEMENT in Western Sichuan; a reminder that most of China is rural. Rural China, as Pogo might say, presents an insurmountable opportunity.
If you look at at national trends in consumption, you can't quite get the picture of how patterns of use--and patterns of meaning--are changing in China. That's why we work in China. We've been asked to help business teams understand the reality on the ground.
New needs can't be projected just be referring to so-called "developed" places and then laying those same expectations on China. China is leaping over any linear notion of product life-cycles, and what it means to be "middle class" is by no means clear. Concepts like middle class may resonate in some parts of China, but in other places they are hotly debated by sociologists and people on the street, alike. And what products are for and how they are used simply can't be taken for granted.
Ethnographic research helps understand daily life by blending science and art, by conveying something of what it feels to live in a rural village, an urban apartment, or a factory dormitory.
Our work in China is led by Ms. Jo Yung (M.A., Anthropology, Chinese University of Hong Kong). Assisted by Mr. Ming Chang Xie (M.A. English, Chinese School of Mines) in Beijing, Jo has led field teams to discover how migrant workers communicate, how rural middle-school students learn about the wider world, and how so-called middle class people furnish their homes. Ming and Jo and Ken Erickson, with their research colleagues in Sichuan, Guangdong, Shanghai and Beijing have friendly working relationships with households and communities in rural and urban China. And their work has helped IT and consumer product companies and others understand emerging trends and plan new products.
And don't let the stereotypical reports in ordinary media fool you: nothing in China is quite what you expect. We're happy to help show you this place that we are so fond of, a place from which we have learned so much.
So, welcome to China! Ming and Jo are happy to show you around; and all of us can help craft research solutions to identify new opportunities or reframe what you might have thought the main questions were, when it comes to consumers, products, and services in China.
Our plans for a short seminar about China in Sichuan have morphed into an inimate business conference on China consumers generally. Dominique Desjeux, Lyn Jeffery, Ben Ross, and Ken Erickson will be speaking. Among other things, you'll learn why popular views of China--even those in recent best-sellers like Elephant and Dragon (R. Meredith 200&) miss the mark. Ms. Meredith omits the voices of real Chinese people. Our conference won't.