On another great post from SRI
Beijing Sounds serves up detail by the bucketful not just out of sheer geekdom (which there’s plenty of) but also based on the belief that the web has raised the bar on analysis of all sorts, that unlimited storage and linking capacity should allow the armchair enthusiast to click through layers of detail, from general principle all the way down into detailed empirical evidence — sound or video files, corpus data, original writings, personal accounts, etc — in order to better understand, vet, challenge, or reformulate the claims being made. Gone are (or: should be) the days of broad assertions by “experts” that such-and-such is true, with the evidence locked in individual computers or notebooks or brains. The trouble with experts was always how to pick out the few genuine investigators — dedicated to the pursuit of understanding wherever it might lead — from the hordes of philosophical bullshitters, dedicated to the position they’d staked out, evidence be damned.
An abundance of detail is part of what makes Silk Road International so good. Many a business writer has hoped to make their millions by writing something pithy about China. SRI backs it up with vignettes like this (excerpted below) that explain the nuance behind what in the past might have been some broad and fundamentally useless generalization such as: “you need to cultivate ongoing relationships with your business partners.”
…we moved into a new office this week—the first one that we’ve owned since we came to China in 2003. But to move in on an auspicious date we had to end our current rental contract early. (Yes, we hired a fenshui/numerologist to help us both pick a good move-in date and organize the layout of the office. “15 years of good fortune” is the prediction. Woo hoo!) We negotiated the early move-out on the condition that we find a replacement renter and get new contracts signed and taxes all paid up though the end of July. If we met all these conditions we could get our deposit back. We did so but when we brought the new renter to sign the paperwork with the landlord we were told we were not getting our deposit. Of course we pitched a huge fit and got into a long (3-4 hour) protracted argument about the landlords about face. When the new tenant had left after signing all the paperwork the landlord looked at us and said “Didn’t you see me wink?” The whole argument was just a ruse to make sure that the new tenant didn’t expect to get his deposit back if he ended his contract early. The landlord was a bit chagrinned that we had had the argument but told us that our deal was still on and the argument was really our fault for bringing up the details of our agreement in front of the new tenant. We were so surprised that my manager said: “how are we supposed to know that?!” My response was: “If Chinese can’t even figure out their own culture together, how the hell are foreigners supposed to figure it out?!” We all had a good laugh and a nice dinner together after all the paperwork was done.
Thanks, SRI [audio track: applause]
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