During COVID, a single oversized pop-up store on Shanghai’s busiest street did something years of sales decks couldn’t: it put a Korean character IP brand on the radar of roughly twenty Chinese conglomerates in a matter of weeks. Here’s what actually happened, and what it taught me about entering China with an IP.

After a decade building businesses in China, the hardest lessons were never about strategy — they were about identity, isolation, and rebuilding credibility from scratch. Here is what living and working in China as a foreigner actually costs, and what it gives back.

Ten years of running IT outsourcing, HR outsourcing, and IP licensing operations in China taught lessons no consulting deck covers. Here are the ten unwritten rules that actually determine whether a foreign company succeeds there.

China’s first-to-file trademark system means brands that wait until they’re “ready” to enter the market often find their own name already registered by a squatter. Here’s what a decade of IP licensing work in China taught me about registering early, broadly, and enforcing what you own.

WeChat isn’t just a messaging app in China — it’s payments, HR, customer service, and guanxi all in one. Here’s a practical, experience-based guide to setting it up right.

After ten years building China operations in IT outsourcing, HR, and IP licensing, I’ve watched the Tier-1 city premium stop paying for itself. Here’s why Chengdu, Hangzhou, and other Tier-2 cities now beat Shanghai and Beijing for a wide range of foreign businesses.

After a decade negotiating deals in China across IT outsourcing, HR, and IP licensing, the real sticking points were rarely price. Here are the unwritten rules that actually decide how negotiations go.

After a decade building HR functions in China across IT outsourcing, HR outsourcing, and IP licensing projects, here are the mistakes foreign companies keep making with China HR — and what actually works instead.

Everyone quotes the low hourly rate for China IT outsourcing, but few account for management overhead, turnover, and IP risk. Here is a realistic cost framework built from a decade of running these projects.

WFOE, Joint Venture, or Representative Office? After a decade setting up entities in China across IT outsourcing, HR, and IP licensing, here is how the choice actually plays out once the paperwork is done.