The Chinaphiles: Interview with Peter Anthony, Author and Collector of Chinese Coins

Today marks a new series for Chinaful: The Chinaphiles. In this series, I'll interview Chinaphiles (also known as Sinophiles, those who demonstrate a strong interest and love for Chinese culture or its people) that study and work in various fields, all with a focus on China. 

For this first interview, Chinaful features Chinese coin collector and author, Peter Anthony. Anthony is an expert on Modern Chinese coins, covering 1979 to the present. Author of Gold and Silver Panda Coin Buyer’s Guide and the monthly China Pricepedia price guide, Anthony’s research is the gold standard on all aspects of collecting, from accurate pricing to spotting counterfeits.

Peter Anthony, autor and Chinese coin collector

You can also access a wealth of information on Anthony’s website, www.pandacollector.com, which gives an introduction and news about Chinese coins. Having the opportunity to speak with Anthony, I wanted to learn what drew him to Chinese coins initially and lessons he’s learned while collecting and researching in China. 

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Learn Legal Aspects of How to Do Business With China

Conducting business in China can bring great reward, but also great risk. If something goes wrong, with a supplier, a client, or an employee, the options for recourse are murky. Should you litigate in China, where courts are less than transparent?  Sue in the US, and then try to enforce the judgment against an absent defendant? Or avoid both with mediation or arbitration? And then there's the US regulations that apply even to business operations and their agents outside China, such as the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.   

On October 4, I'll be speaking on a panel addressing all of these legal concerns and more. The event is sponsored by the Chinese Chamber of Commerce of Los Angeles and my firm, O'Melveny & Myers, LLP. 

Chinaful readers - If your business involves China, or you'd like it to, leave a comment or email chinafulblog@gmail.com for an invite to this event. 

Apple on My Mind

Maybe it’s because I’m finishing up Steve Jobs’ biography by Walter Isaacson.  Or maybe it’s because I’m constantly listening to iTunes on my iPhone while I travel.  More likely I have Apple on my mind because of the onslaught of news that’s covered the company and its relationship with China over the past weeks.  In case you’ve missed the coverage, here’s some of what I'm reading...on my iPad.

At the outset of the controversy regarding working conitions in Foxconn's China factories, Apple's manufacturing partner, CNN covered the story.  The video and article following it, Apple manufacturing plant workers complain of long hours, militant culture, show the situation through one workers' perspective.

Yet the Huffington Post reported that in fact, Foxconn's factories were above average: Foxconn Working Conditions: iPad plant better than the Norm, says Fair Labor Association. This report does not make clear, however, whether that assessment is positive for Apple or a condemnation of China's factory standards.

When a one-man performance by Mike Daisey extolling horrors of China's factories first premiered, Dan Harris of China Law Blog wrote this account: The Agony and the Ecstasy of Steve Jobs. Laugh Out Loud Insight on China's Factories. His response to learning that Daisey fabricated aspects of his account of Shenzhen Foxconn factories? Mike Daisey is a Liar-Asshole.

Stan Abrams then posted on China Hearsay a clever guide to reading between the lines on China's press coverage of Apple's CEO meeting with China's Vice Premier. 

And that brings us to just yesterday: Apple's Tim Cook Visits Foxconn iPhone Plant in China.