Businesspeople from China

"为什么外国互联网公司到中国大都失败了？谷歌也不行、雅虎也不行、eBay这些都被中国本土公司给搞死掉了？是不是中国不能做？任何一个失败的人是最容易找藉口的，人类总是为失败找藉口，不为成功找方向。"

"中国未来将是制定下一个世纪游戏规则的地方...因为全世界人都会在那儿，所以去中国不是去发财，今天不是去发财，不是寻找机会，而是参与未来游戏规则的制定。"

"Young people will have the seeds you bury in their minds and when they grow up they will change the world."

"The problem is the fake products today are of better quality and better price than the real names ... They are exactly the same factories, exactly the same raw materials but they do not use the names."

"In 2001, we went to raise some $3 million in venture capital in the U.S. and got rejected. So we’ve come back and raised a little bit more: $25 billion. This is not money; this is trust from the world, trust from the people."

"When you have one billion dollars, that's not your money. That's the trust the society gives [to] you."

"You should learn from your competitor, but never copy. Copy and you die."

"I think that you, american people, worry too much about the China economy, [...] Every time you start to worry about the China economy, China goes better."

"If you don’t give up, You still have a Chance to Win. Giving up is a Great Failure."

"We are lucky that Steve Jobs has such a bad temper and doesn't care about China. If Apple were to spend the same effort on the Chinese consumer as we do, we would be in trouble."

"A strong, healthy man won’t be hit easily by the flu. It is the same with business: A healthy business will not be hit easily by a crisis."

"At that time, most local Chinese companies were not thinking about cost structures and supply chain issues as actively as we were. They were thinking more about how to lower the import tariff or how to counteract foreign exchange risks and so on. But we really spent a lot of effort on our supply system."

"A company should have a vision. But vision alone is not enough; you also have to set a mid-term target. After that, the most important thing will be [to determine] the strategies for reaching this target."

"The key to implementation is people. In a war, even you have a good fighting strategy, history tells us that having soldiers who are brave enough, with skills in shooting and fighting, is what makes the difference."

"With the current unprecedented uncertainties in global markets, I suggest that entrepreneurs should observe these uncertainties and act before them, do what they must do to move the business forward."

"The biggest advantage is China's enormous potential market. Our government actively supports the local computer industry. We have lower production costs than foreign competitors. On the other hand, we are technologically far behind the West. Another disadvantage is that there is a very shallow understanding of market principles in this country. This seriously undermines the growth of the PC industry."

"I think it's good that older leaders have made room for the younger generation. When we started, we worked very hard for very little money. Now we give employees very attractive wages. Other state-owned enterprises should follow our example."

"When Lenovo suffered a difficulty, I returned in spite of getting older because this is the business I created with my colleagues."

"I believe that Deng Xiaoping should have been the first Chinese Nobel Peace Prize winner, not [political prisoner] Liu Xiaobo. (2010)"

"We are still a model in ways economic and non-economic. When I say things non-economic, I would include governance — and rule of law is a key element. Many, I sincerely believe they tell the truth, say that they still look to Hong Kong for inspiration. (2012)"

""People are disenfranchised because they don’t vote, they are disengaged because we don’t talk to them, and we don’t listen, not directly. There is a sense of being disowned, and therefore, there’s a deep sense of distrust between the people and the government, or by the people of government. I want to bridge that gap and I want to re-engage with the people." (2012)"

""Before 1997, some people were publicly claiming that they would be put behind bars [after the resumption of Chinese sovereignty], or not be allowed to return if they left. Some people even feared that certain books or magazines would not be read in Hong Kong and that the Chinese government would somehow monitor the Internet. They’ve been proved wrong, and I can prove them wrong again." (2012)"

""The so-called elite in Hong Kong has what we call 'Central District values", and I think Hong Kong would do a lot better if everyone could just travel out a bit and see how, not just the other half, but probably the other 75%, lives." (2012)"

""If it's entirely a numbers game – numeric representation – then obviously you'd be talking to half the people in Hong Kong [that] earn less than US$1,800 a month [the median wage in HK]. You would end up with that kind of politics and policies". (2014)"

""So long as it is universal suffrage implemented in that jurisdiction, it is genuine universal suffrage." – on being asked specifically whether Burma and North Korea have genuine universal suffrage. (2015)"

"“Last year was no easy ride for Hong Kong. Our society was rife with differences and conflicts. In the coming year I hope that all people in Hong Kong will take inspiration from the sheep’s character and pull together in an accommodating manner to work for Hong Kong’s future.” (2015)"

""If we had more land, we could provide space to non-profit organisations to offer more elderly home services … the elderly and their children could afford a better service." (2015)"

"“There were some technical questions on the day of vote … Unfortunately, the bill was vetoed by a minority.” (2015)"

"“Unfortunately, there would be no live casting of the game, hence we will have to miss the game.” (2015)"

""I hope anyone, especially Lee Bo himself, can provide relevant information"."

"予聞《紅樓夢》膾炙人口者，幾廿餘年，然無全璧，無定本。向曾從友人借觀，竊以染指嘗鼎為憾。今年春，友人程子小泉過予，以其所購全書見示，且曰：「此僕數年銖積寸累之苦心，將付剞劂，公同好。子閒旦憊矣，盍分任之？」予以是書雖稗官野史之流，然尚不謬於名教，欣然拜諾，正以波斯奴見寶為幸，題襄其役。工既竣，並識端末，以告閱者。"

"It seems to me ridiculous to try to believe that Gao E sat down and wrote the last 40 chapters [of Dream of the Red Chamber]. I'm sure that's not true. Because you can see the way Gao E works. Gao E is trying I think just to reconcile – he's not altering, I think he doesn't feel he can alter what's been found. I think he tried to alter things occasionally to square one thing with another. If you're just making something up, forging something, you wouldn't be bothered about trying to reconcile inconsistencies. You'd make jolly well sure that they didn't occur."

"Just as one cannot cross the same river twice, one cannot repeat the act of literary creation or pass it on to someone else. The creation of Dream of the Red Chamber, an act that resulted from Cao Xueqin's unrepeatable personal and aesthetic experiences, happens only once. Hence, it is, strictly speaking, impossible to write a sequel to Dream of the Red Chamber. As Gao E knowingly tries to perform an impossible task, he shows an admirable spirit. As he works against all odds and completes his sequel on the basis of the predictions provided in the first few chapters of Dream of the Red Chamber, he can be considered a talented sequel writer. However, though he writes many outstanding chapters in his sequel, he also produces quite a few flawed episodes. Among them the most flawed episode is Jia Baoyu's decision to take the civil service examination with Jia Lan and his success as a candidate. It is possible that Jia Baoyu might make some compromises, but for him the compromise described in the sequel is out of character. Gao E, as he imposes an ordinary person's desires on Jia Baoyu and makes Jia Baoyu betray his true self, damages the purity of this innocent character."

"Kao Ngo came from a Han family which served in the Manchu army. After passing the provincial examination in 1788 and the palace examination in 1795, he entered the Hanlin Academy and became a Reader. In 1801 he was made Assistant Examiner of the Metropolitan Examination. He wrote the last forty chapters of the novel in 1791 or thereabouts, before he had passed the final examination. The fact that he was at leisure and slightly bored made him sympathize with Tsao Hsueh-chin's loneliness. However, he had not given up hope, unlike the author of Chapter 1, "beset by poverty and illness in his old age and sinking into decline." So although the sequel breathes an atmosphere of melancholy, the Chia family finally recovers its lost fortune instead of being left with nothing "but the bare naked earth.""

"Kao Ou has been severely criticized on three counts. The first is that he was not telling the truth when he said he did not write but only edited the last forty chapters. This is, however, a question that cannot be categorically answered until new evidence turns up, since there are indications in the Chih Yen Chai comments that there existed at least partially finished chapters beyond the eightieth. The second criticism is that the last forty chapters are poorly written and that they are like "dog's fur sewed unto sable." I am inclined to agree with this judgment, but in fairness to Kao Ou it should be pointed out that for over a hundred years no one saw anything wrong with the sable. The last criticism is that Kao Ou, the chief architect if not the author of the last forty chapters, did not carry out the tragic intent of Tsao Hsueh-chin. He should not have allowed Pao-yu, it is argued, to pass the Provincial Examinations, for a man who achieves the chü-jen degree cannot be said to be a complete failure as the author described himself and as he intended Pao-yu to be. Here again, in fairness to Kao Ou, we must not forget that he lived at a time when a just and happy ending was almost obligatory and that he should be praised for going so far as to let Black Jade die of a broken heart instead of being criticized for not anticipating and conforming to the standard of values which happens to prevail today. All in all, we should be grateful to Kao Ou. Except for him, the Dream would probably not have survived."

"I think it's much severe than what you have experienced in the past year or two for the general economic situation."

"We didn't have a feasible business model, let's put it this way, because when we started, the business model is to provide the backend search technology to the portal companies in China. We did that, we came up with very good Chinese search engine technology and we signed up a lot of the Chinese portals in a very short period of time that includes SINA, Sohu, Netease, Yahoo!China and any partol company you can think of in China."

"My parents and grandparents taught us a lot — not Chinese or maths but a sense of values, of how you should be and how you should treat others."

"When faced with the uncertainty of the future, we retain a sense of awe — but we will always think and act as though we are experiencing day one. We will continue to strengthen the supply chain infrastructure construction and contribute our professional insights and innovative solutions to a better and more sustainable future — and time will prove our original aspirations and beliefs."

"It’s critical to know “who we are”. Only by knowing it can our company locate the anchor of value, which will provide our brothers and sisters continued incentives to work hard. Only by realizing “who we are” can JD complete its coming-of-age ceremony and likely achieve the transformation from “big” to “great”."

"We should always have 'high aims and dreams.' If we keep this motto in our hearts, we won’t be bothered by trivial matters. A few day ago, I read in the newspaper that a girl still in junior high jumped out of a window and committed suicide because of her boyfriend. If only she could see further and realize there are smarter and cuter boys in the world. Let’s commit that lesson to heart and explore the future of the world. Never forget to look up and see further, so that we can see more and achieve more!"

"Sooner or later, our entire industry will be operated by AI (artificial intelligence) and robots, not humans."

"But every person must have the desire to push oneself to the limit!"

"When SARS occurred 17 years ago, JD was a very small company and we personally experienced then just how devastating an epidemic situation can be to both businesses and the people's lives. That's why today, JD will do everything we can within our power to serve our customers and as well as society."

"We sincerely hope that the epidemic will be over soon, but regardless of circumstances, we always seek to improve the service experience for our customers and create value for our customers."

"An apple a day keep the lies away."

"When I escaped from China and came to Hong Kong, the contrast was that China was like hell and Hong Kong, like heaven. Though I was very poor, I smelled the air of freedom and was full of hope for the future. That’s the way I thought heaven is."

"If I really treated business like a businessman, I wouldn’t have done what I have done — opposing China. No businessman in their right mind would do this, because you know that there will be repercussions."

"The intention of the Chinese government taking away our freedom is so obvious that we know, if we don't fight, we will lose everything...When you lose the freedom, you lose everything. What do you have?"

"I don't regret my support for the protest movement. I came here empty-handed, and I owe everything I've got to the freedom of Hong Kong. Maybe it's time for me to give it back... I think there's more to life than money."

"I don't want to leave Hong Kong, the only thing we can do is persist, not to lose spirit or hope. And to think that what is right will eventually prevail."

"I am not leaving Hong Kong, I will stay and fight until the last day, whether or not I am a prime target of Beijing's use of national security laws to suppress, it does not matter. Everyone in Hong Kong, especially those working in the media, is worried because anything we say or publish publicly could be used by the government as evidence of subversion or incitement to disorder."

"Steve Bannon: The key to the [Chinese Maoist] Cultural Revolution was called the Four Olds: ..."

"Miles: You [say] this, sir, still too high. You say words maybe some people don't understand."

"按照共产党的说法，就所有这美帝国主义的东西都是骗子都垃圾，都是资本主义的嘛，是不是？只有共产党的是好的，对吧？ 就共产党你看它干啥事？共产党说我是无神主义，对吧，我是无神主义，所以我把所有的神要杀掉。佛教、穆斯林、新疆人、基督教最近抓得一塌糊涂，天主教、道教到处扫荡。为什么？因为我是神，我要当神我就要灭掉所有的神。大家我说的是事实吧？几年前七哥就说了吧？"

"Laughable rumors. I’m not stepping back or stepping down. You could say I’m stepping up."

"We always think there are stories to do and we don’t think, ‘maybe this environment should be better’. We’ve always felt we could do anything we wanted. It was just based on what our priorities are."

"China also has this kind of problem ... China had the ‘women hold up half the sky’ revolutionary slogan — but the actual situation, the actual status of women — I think is a very profound issue."

"Revealing the truth to the public requires layers of checking and multiple source verification. Good journalism can safeguard interests and foster changes of rules."

"The role that we journalists have to play is very large because China does not have elections and there are so many restrictions."

"Reform is an accelerating process, as soon as it starts, it will move faster and faster."

"Strategy. The industry is absolutely shifting toward mobile devices, such as smartphones and tablets, which are growing fast. But Lenovo has prepared for this shift for many years. Our belief is that we can address those markets as well as our core PC market. In the smartphone sector, for example, we’re number two in China; we’re in the top five now worldwide."

"We want to transform ourselves from a PC market-share leader into a PC-plus innovation leader. This will ensure we have sustained growth, profitability, and the strong foundation to build a great global company that can last for generations."

"As the world continues to adjust to the ‘new normal’, we are confident in the long-term growth potential of both devices and cloud infrastructure. We will continue to leverage our core competences of operational excellence and global/local footprint, while accelerating our service-led transformation to better grasp opportunities and drive sustainable growth."

"Our success is a combination of four things: first is right strategy and good execution. The second is innovative products and third is efficiency of our delivery. And finally the diversified global leadership team which understands the needs of different geographies. On top of that, in the last four years we have had a strategy of ‘protect and attack’. We protect our strength in our core geography and business, that is, China business and global enterprise business. And we attack with new markets with new products — like emerging markets."

"Lenovo has been paying huge attention to technology innovation ever since I became the CEO. Even when I was not the chief executive, I was responsible for research and development. Many people may think Lenovo achieved its success through efficiency and execution. But constant investment in R&D and product innovation have been another crucial factor in Lenovo's success. Back in the PC era, we added a feature that made tablet access to the Internet just a click away. Our products are unique in design and address particular requirements. In fact, it is innovation that helped Lenovo score over competition."

"After having had my microblog for a year, I find that Chinese netizens like to comment on topics regarding me. For example, my hairstyle has received a lot of reviews lately. I log on to Weibo everyday to check netizens' comments. There is no doubt that social media is a great platform to post information related to Lenovo's businesses."

"There's no way the US can crush us. The world cannot leave us because we are more advanced. Even if they persuade more countries not to use us temporarily, we can always scale things down a bit."

"If the lights go out in the West, the East will still shine. And if the North goes dark, there is still the South. America doesn't represent the world. America only represents a portion of the world."

"The Chinese government has already clearly said that it won't install any backdoors. And we won't install backdoors either. We're not going to risk the disgust of our country and of our customers all over the world, because of something like this. Our company will never undertake any spying activities. If we have any such actions, then I'll shut the company down."

"I can summarize the painful lesson in one sentence: We must not slack off or allow mediocrity, and we must remain dedicated and inspire passion throughout the organization."

"It’s possible that having a strong competitor would encourage us to compete better."

"We want to remain open minded, and keep pursuing economic globalization. Even if we are not taken out of the entity list, for some American companies, the things they sell are not important. Why can’t they sell them? Only a very small portion of U.S. products are related to security. If you prevent all companies from selling to foreign countries, this is not beneficial to the U.S. Should the ban be lifted one day, we would still buy from these companies."

"I hope people will forget me. It is a waste to remember me. I hope they can stop thinking about me. If they remember me and turn this into a game to see who is more loyal, that will turn into a burden. They can look into the sky when they remember me. I don’t want them to think about me and it is too tiring for them to remember me."

"Be straightforward and ask any questions you want. I will be very frank in my answers, including with any of your trickier questions. Don't worry. I like how frank Americans are. You aren't afraid to ask any question you want. I was a fan of the US when I was young. Today, I still believe the US is a great nation. Your advanced institutions, flexible innovation mechanisms, clearly-defined property rights, and respect and protection of individual rights have attracted the world's best talent to invest and innovate in the US. Billions of people have participated in this process. Without your openness, you wouldn't have been able to develop into the world's strongest power in just over 200 years."

"I've always been a pretty open person, actually, but I like to focus on internal management more than external publicity. I really get US culture, and many of our company's management systems were inspired by those in the US."

"I hope that the Chinese government can open the Internet sector to the rest of the world, just like they did in the manufacturing sector. I am open to this idea and fully support it. However, I cannot speak on behalf of the Chinese government. These are just my own comments."

"A famous person once said that the easiest way to bring down a fortress is from within and the easiest way to reinforce it is from outside. Our fortress has let its guard down, and complacency has kicked in. But pressure from the US has forced us to be united and stick together. We're united as one now, and we're determined to make better products. This has eased the burden on me personally, because our people are working harder than ever before. They're out there clamoring louder than I am, so I can relax a bit and have more time to speak highly of the US."

"Well, since day one, we have always been a strong supporter of globalization in our operations, so that we can serve the global community by collaborating across the global value chain. A long time ago, however, we realized that there would be all kinds of uncertainties and conflicts between the US and Huawei. We needed to be prepared, so that we wouldn't collapse and could be self-reliant when the US chose not to sell to us. Today, I can say that it won't be a problem for us to survive short term, but I'm concerned whether we will still be a global leader in three to five years. We will delve deep into this topic, and it has become part of our agenda."

"We firmly embrace global supply chains. We welcome US companies to increase their supplies to Huawei, and will use their supplies wherever possible. This will ensure shared success between Huawei and US companies. If US companies are not allowed to supply their products to us, we have our alternatives. If those alternatives become mature and stable, I don't think it's very likely that we will go back to US companies."

"Technology is increasingly complex. So technological expertise is more important than trust, because without expertise, products cannot be made, and trust will be meaningless. When a product is made, there will always be someone who will trust it despite what others say. Countries that have decided to use the product will find that it helps with their economic development, and this will remind everyone else that if they don't use this technology, they will be left behind."

"Huawei is a company, not a political entity. We aim to provide high-quality information services to humanity. With this ideal in mind, we work even in the toughest environments, such as high mountains, rainforests, and many remote areas in Africa."

"I personally believe that politics and the economy can be and should be separated."

"Huawei has no access to the data and we don't need the data. So from this point of view, what the US has been saying just doesn't hold up. It's like trucks. Trucks can be used to do bad things. What to transport in a truck is up to the driver, not the truck maker. You can't blame the truck maker for any bad things that are done using the truck. The same applies to us. We are like a truck maker."

"Economic globalization can bring substantial benefits to all of humanity. This is because it will play a significant role in driving the optimal allocation of resources and reduction of service cost, thereby accelerating the pace of social progress. Economic globalization was a concept put forward by Western countries. Their guiding principle was to allow the West to trade their advanced technology and equipment for developing countries' raw materials and cost-efficient labor forces. This enabled global trade. But the West did not expect that developing countries would slowly begin to move up the value chain with production of low-end products."

"We can license technologies and production techniques. Whoever gets the technologies can develop new things based on them."

"Academic freedom is the foundation of innovation. The freedom to have different academic ideas and to study whatever you want is very important. Undoubtedly, the US has the world's most innovation-friendly environment. Thanks to the Internet, people have easier access to information. Science and engineering papers have nothing to do with ideology, so they can be published and shared all over the world."

"If our engineers became politicians, Huawei would have collapsed. Engineers should focus on developing good products. They don't need to read about politics. What's the point of them caring about political issues? If our engineers are all out protesting, who is going to pay them?"

"Is China a part of the world? Yes. Therefore, our insistence on globalisation also includes the domestic market. We cannot be closed. We must stay open."

"Just because the US is trying to suppress us does not mean we do not recognize it as a teacher. This will lead to isolation."

"First of all, we must cooperate with sincerity. When there are difficulties, that means we have done something others cannot and proves our value."

"There has been no step forward in history that has been easy. We have gone through many twists and turns in the past century."

"Ren Zhengfei’s initial career in the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) shapes the ideological and operational framework for Huawei’s emergence. Although Huawei asserts it is a private enterprise owned by its employees via an “employee stock ownership plan,” [Eva] Dou highlights the complexities of this narrative, given Ren’s strong military connections and allegiance to the CCP. His role as a military technologist during the Cultural Revolution—an era when engineers were frequently marginalized—granted him unique credibility within the Party and introduced him to the values of secrecy and discipline that would later become integral to Huawei’s culture."

"I think the most important is when I was young, I learnt martial arts, that is my special key. I can use my unique martial arts in the film. But after a few years, I really want to do something different... like using martial arts to talk about peace."

"I am a Buddhist and sometimes I feel bad about children...when they see me walking on the street, they will shout 'Jet Li' [to do a few fighting actions]. In the beginning of course I was happy to hear that but after a while, I feel ...I think I have the responsibility to the young age, the teenager. I need to talk about more...because Chinese culture is not just martial arts, physical part... we have deep, strong philosophy and culture. I want to share some information, tell the worldwide audience, what kind of Chinese people... Not just say, you look Chinese people like Bruce Lee or everybody know martial arts and just know how to beat up others."

"I spend a lot of time with my family. Because I think it's part of my life. I think the time...long or short is not the most important. I think the most important is the quality time...quality time with family."

"In my personal life I'm a very traditional Chinese person, and when you promise a girl something you need to do it. Also, in a lot of Asian audiences, and probably American too, the man wants to see the action movie, he's begging the girl to go see an action movie. But this time, I really want the girl to say, come on man, let's go see the movie. Because, remember your promise. I think the man needs to be honest, take a little responsibility. Whatever you do. That's my personal thought."

"I think you really need to understand American culture, because everybody you meet says very nice things to you - you are great, you are brilliant, you?re amazing - I want to know is this true, or are they being polite? I really want to know, so I make my website to talk to the audience. They tell me the truth, they say, I like you in this, I don't like you in this. It's important. Because American people are so polite."

"My biggest lesson from the Sichuan earthquake rescue is that grassroots NGOs can help the government in its blind spots. Government relief is not always detail-oriented. Grassroots NGOs can’t be as big as a government effort, but they need to be flexible and independent. Grassroots should not be merged. Once merged, they are no different from governmental organizations."

"I should do something for Africa...I will go to Africa again, and want to see African entrepreneurs get not only the financial award, but also advice from successful predecessors. That can be even more valuable."

"When I think about ancient China or the ancient world, I wonder why people want to become king. For my personal taste, I like freedom."

"Speaking English dialogue is not easy for me. I am too lazy to learn English or speak any foreign language, so I am very grateful to my dialogue coach for helping me a lot."

"Technology is a capability. To be good is a choice. Over the past 23 years, Tencent has managed to come this far because society and our country have provided support that allowed Tencent to continuously grow."

"We feel that users have more expectations. Concerning antitrust, privacy protections, the prevention of big data price discrimination, and so on, we, as users, share these concerns. For instance, with our gaming business, we know there are a lot of doubts."

"Education and health care are not only commercial services, but also public and universal ones. So on top of commerce, what can we do to play our role? What can we do in terms of pension and health in an ageing society?"

"Wealth won’t give you satisfaction, creating a good product that’s well received by users is what matters most."

"A service starts with the satisfaction and needs of its users in mind and is defined by those two things. Spending core resources and time repeatedly on the optimisation of the obvious characteristics is basically the mania of novice internet entrepreneurs."

"But copying others can't make you great. So the key is how to localize a great idea and create domestic innovation."