Major sporting events such as the soccer World Cup, the Super Bowl or the Olympic Games play an increasingly important role for the marketing of large corporations. So it’s no wonder that a sponsorship contract with the International Olympic Committee is causing popping champagne corks in PR departments
But the Winter Games in Beijing create an unexpected dilemma for large sponsors. Corporations are wondering: How to respond to harsh criticism of the host country, China? And how should the company position itself towards its production partners in Xinjiang or the diplomatic boycott by several governments? Ning Wang shows the dilemma the Olympic sponsors are in – and how they try to escape the situation unscathed, with absurd actions at times.
It is a complex picture that China represents when it comes to environmental protection. On the one hand, it is the world’s biggest climate offender, generates tons of radioactive nuclear waste with its myriad of reactors and burns mountains of dirty coal. On the other hand, Beijing has realized that China cannot avoid climate change. That’s why it wants to become a pioneer in climate protection.
In the future, companies are to offer their products and services in a climate-neutral, sustainable – in short, an eco-friendly manner. At least, that’s what the central government’s new climate protection plan envisions. Nico Beckert took a closer look at Beijing’s regulations and points out the problems that still need to be solved on the way to sustainable consumption. Otherwise, these promising plans will quickly turn out to be an eco-friendly mirage.
US companies are once again some of the biggest Olympic sponsors of this year’s Winter Games in Beijing. Be it Coca-Cola, Procter & Gamble, Airbnb, Intel, or Visa – they are all among the 13 “TOP” partners of the world event. Partnering their company with one of the world’s biggest sporting events is a major success for PR executives.
After all, the Olympic Games are a no-brainer for companies: A huge stage on which the world’s top athletes set new records. Higher, faster, further! And millions of people are watching. And the brands are everywhere: On sports suits, equipment, food, drinks, and snacks.
But this time, PR departments had little reason for celebration. When the US government called for a diplomatic boycott just a few weeks before the start of the Winter Olympics, alarm bells started ringing at corporate headquarters. Nightly Zoom meetings and hours of phone calls were the result, as Mark DiMassimo recently told CNN.
The founder and creative director of the New York advertising agency DiGo explains that one question above all dominated hectic discussions: What does this diplomatic boycott mean for the sponsors? After all, no one wanted to see their products associated with “Genocide Olympics”. This is what voices from the US had called the Olympics in an attempt to draw attention to the situation of the Uyghurs in Xinjiang. The backdrop is the massive violation of human rights by the Chinese government in Xinjiang.
Not only US companies are affected. Olympic sponsors also include German insurer Allianz, Japanese automaker Toyota, and French technology consultancy Atos. Even the Swiss watch brand Omega is a sponsor. It has also recruited US-Chinese freestyle skier Eileen Gu as a brand ambassador (China.Table reported). Gu has already won a gold medal – and Omega was likely pleased. After all, Olympic champion is a title for life.
But outside the venues, sponsors are more skeptical this year. Many companies consider a media-effective presence in Beijing to be less lucrative this time. Increased attention in connection with the controversial Olympics could cause far too many problems. Political and social aspects overshadow any sporting aspects.
Coca-Cola’s situation illustrates the predicament in which companies find themselves this time around. Towers of shiny golden cans were erected throughout the country for the Winter Olympics – a special edition that the US manufacturer had specially designed for the Olympics in Beijing. However: These golden cans will only be on display in the supermarkets of the People’s Republic during the Olympics. This time, Coca-Cola prefers to do without any big marketing events like those for the 2008 Summer Games. Such events could be noticed in the US and Europe, after all. There won’t be any PR events on social media, either.
Another problem: Human rights organizations accuse corporations of “missing the opportunity” to denounce China for its “appalling human rights record”. “Businesses need to know that under the UN guiding principles on business and human rights, they have a responsibility to identify and mitigate human rights risks, and that helping [the] Chinese government’s reputation laundering is risking being complicit in those abuses,” said Wang Yaqiu, a senior researcher on China at Human Rights Watch back in November.
Coca-Cola’s main problem is called Mengniu. The Americans have signed a partnership with the Chinese dairy company. But Mengniu operates a bottling plant in the region of Xinjiang. And even if there is nothing fundamentally wrong with this, this connection alone could raise mistrust against Coca-Cola.
US chip manufacturer Intel surrendered in the face of mounting pressure: First, the company urged its suppliers not to use products manufactured in Xinjiang (China.Table reported). But this was followed by kowtowing to Beijing, when Intel again publicly apologized for this request. It was merely a matter of “complying with US laws,” Intel announced via the Chinese short message service Weibo in late December. One thing to note: Intel earns a quarter of its global revenue in the Chinese market.
Stephan Woellenstein, who worked for Volkswagen in China for many years, most recently as VW China CEO, recently said in an interview with the German business weekly WirtschaftsWoche: “Basically, however, we believe that sport brings people of different backgrounds together and can promote dialogue between the countries and peoples of the world.”
In just a single sentence, it becomes clear how unreflective PR slogans are parroted, and even experienced corporate executives close their eyes to reality. Sport can no longer be considered to be outside the realm of values or morals. For example, top international soccer players have long since ceased to be mere athletes and instead have become role models for millions of young people. VW sponsors soccer because, according to Woellenstein, it is the “number one sport in many markets.”
When asked about the working conditions at VW’s Chinese plants in Xinjiang, Woellenstein emphasizes that the Group abides by the United Nations’ guiding principles on business & human rights. Major sports associations and clubs make things even easier for themselves, constantly referring to their non-political role and the uniting power of sport.
Insurance group Allianz, which recently became one of the International Olympic Committee’s (IOC) global sponsors, received approval last year to launch its own life insurance division in China (China.Table reported). But the price that companies like Allianz pay for access to the Chinese market and its consumers may be hefty. They risk alienating their Western customers.
Whether the equation – larger market = more customers – will work out, in the end, is uncertain. After all, not only Western customers are growing irritated. More and more Chinese consumers are also turning to domestic brands (China.Table reported). That is because the resources of Chinese propaganda, which the Communist Party uses to generate more and more nationalism in China, are probably greater than any sponsorship budget of foreign companies.
Germany imports more clothing and textiles from China than from any other country in the world. Only the dumping prices of Chinese clothing and other Asian countries have made the mass consumption of cheap clothing possible in the West. So it seems slightly bizarre that Beijing is now urging its own citizens to buy clothing “sensibly and appropriately, in line with their actual needs”.
It seems as if Beijing has recognized that the throw-away mentality that is so common in the West and has long since arrived in the Middle Kingdom is not sustainable and clashes with the country’s own climate goals. The government has set itself ambitious-sounding goals. By 2025, the “market share of green and low-CO2 products is to increase significantly.” In addition, “extravagance and waste are to be effectively curbed“. By 2030, green and low-CO2 products are even to become “mainstream”. That is according to a new plan to promote green consumption. Planners have identified eight sectors in which sustainable consumption is to be strengthened:
The call for green consumption could be met with approval among consumers in the Middle Kingdom. In a survey by management consultants PricewaterhouseCoopers, 72 percent of respondents stated that they “buy from companies that are conscious and supportive of protecting the environment”. Another 72 percent stated that they pay attention to sustainability certificates when consuming. However, such surveys should be taken with a pinch of salt.
Even in international comparison, at least the younger generation of Chinese performs well. According to a recent survey by the Credit Suisse Research Institute, more than 60 percent of the 1,000 Chinese surveyed stated that they have shifted their consumption to more eco-friendly products or exclusively buy such products. In Germany, the ratio was only just over 40 percent. A certain proportion of respondents will present their own behavior better than it actually is. The exciting thing about the Credit Suisse survey is that more than half of the Chinese respondents do not trust the sustainability promises made by companies. And there are indeed signs that this skepticism is entirely justified.
Chinese companies are increasingly presenting themselves as sustainable to the public. They are frequently using buzzwords such as “carbon neutrality,” “sustainability,” or “environmentally friendly” to promote their products and services. But when it comes to publishing their emissions and highlighting tangible progress, there is often only silence.
Until now, there have been few oversight bodies to monitor climate promises made by Chinese companies. “There is no national standard or mechanism to verify all the carbon-neutral claims made by companies, and the institutions that judge offset projects vary significantly,” Qin Yan, lead carbon analyst at Refinitiv, told Bloomberg. While there are media and independent organizations in Europe that critically analyze climate promises, “the Chinese way is top-down and it relies on administrative regulations.”
There are also major gaps in the sustainability reporting of Chinese companies. Many of the largest Chinese stock exchange-listed companies now publish a report with information on environmental, social, and governance topics (ESG). But in the past, only a fraction of these reports have been independently reviewed (China.Table reported).
Only 26 percent of the ESG reports of CSI 300 companies even include information on the greenhouse gas emissions emitted by the respective company. “Overall, ESG data disclosed by Chinese companies is still insufficient,” write Dezan-Shira’s business consultants. Even a recent reform of reporting is hardly sufficient, as it does not cover all (listed) companies (China.Table reported).
Beijing seems to have recognized these problems. It plans to expand the standards, certification, and labeling systems for sustainable products and services and bring them into line with international standards. Standards for power saving are also to be improved. In addition, the government wants to develop standards for greenhouse gas emissions for key industries and products. For “key products,” the government also wants to assess the introduction of carbon footprint standards.
Overall, the plans to promote green consumption still remain rather vague. “The plan is more of a call to action than a formula for solving the problems at hand,” say experts at consulting agency Trivium China. The big challenge with green consumption, they say, is making people aware of the benefits.
For EVs, the government had been relying on financial incentives and tax breaks for consumers. But that was hardly feasible for other consumer goods. “The government needs to find ways to incentivize consumers without giving billions of renminbi to each consumer segment,” the consultants assessed.
Monday was an Olympic day with relatively few medals. But one of them went to China in women’s aerials. Meanwhile, social media voiced frustration about Chinese-American freestyle star Eileen Gu and her privileges.
When Wolfgang Niedermark speaks about China, regret echoes in his voice. Since October 2020, the 56-year-old German has been a member of the Executive Board of the Federation of German Industries (BDI). In both his professional and private life, he has witnessed China’s economic prowess, cultural diversity, and social dynamism on the ground over many years. “Since I had many positive experiences with the Chinese people,” he says, “I’m driven to the side of those who want to cooperate with China full of sympathy and with good spirits.”
On the other hand, and this is the big “but,” the nationalistic course of the Communist Party harmed so many things that it is difficult to maintain this positive attitude. “The totalitarian course under Xi Jinping is causing great concern for us, as it does for many others.”
Asia already had its hooks in Niedermark while he was studying economic geography at the University of Muenster. He was particularly fascinated by India, which he backpacked across as a student. In India, he had gotten engaged to his wife, and the couple later “dragged” their children along on their travels through Southeast Asia. They are a “Pacific family,” he says, and have lived in Seoul and Hong Kong and felt very much at home there.
Originally, Niedermark wanted to work primarily in India, but he found that there was ultimately more momentum in China. From 1998, he headed the business of the East Asian Association in Hamburg and was also a member of the executive board of the Asia-Pacific Committee of German Business.
He first came into closer contact with China and its people in 2003, when he helped set up the magazine business for what is now the Bauer Media Group in Asia. “That was a fascinating experience,” he says. “The Chinese at that time had an incredible enthusiasm for our topics from the West, a desire and mutual curiosity.” Niedermark felt the same way. He made the same experience during the three-year campaign “Germany and China: Moving Ahead Together” for the Expo 2010 in Shanghai.
In 2016, Niedermark took over as head of the Chamber of Foreign Trade in Hong Kong after leading the Berlin office at BASF AG for several years. Hong Kong has long been a place of longing: “I like places where East and West flow together.” But after moving there with his wife and two sons, he witnessed firsthand how the principle of “one country, two systems” was abolished.
An anecdote serves as an example: In his first year in Hong Kong, polite traffic policemen would have almost apologized for giving him a fine. Four years later, he was waved out by a policeman, even though he had committed no apparent traffic violation. “They called me a smug foreigner.” That, he said, is just one of many stories of how nationalistic tones have poisoned the atmosphere in China.
This entrenchment is also reflected in political relations: “This is not so much the fault of us in the West, but because China presents itself differently today,” says Niedermark. This has already been noticeable for several years. But Germany, and, in fact, the entire West, has not yet found a clear answer to the question of how to deal with the situation. “We are in an interim phase in which the old relationships are still functioning reasonably well, but new forms of interaction and cooperation have not yet been born.” This phase of misunderstandings and mistrust is something we now have to get through, Niedermark says, before hopefully regaining constructive cooperation. Adrian Meyer
Away from the Olympics, a much more important festival is taking place in China this Tuesday: the Lantern Festival, or Yuanxiao Festival (元宵节, Yuánxiāojié). On this day, huge lantern shows are held, with zodiac signs being especially popular. And so this year, children in Wenzhou are making tiger lanterns. It is the closing of the New Year festival in China, which lasts several days.
Major sporting events such as the soccer World Cup, the Super Bowl or the Olympic Games play an increasingly important role for the marketing of large corporations. So it’s no wonder that a sponsorship contract with the International Olympic Committee is causing popping champagne corks in PR departments
But the Winter Games in Beijing create an unexpected dilemma for large sponsors. Corporations are wondering: How to respond to harsh criticism of the host country, China? And how should the company position itself towards its production partners in Xinjiang or the diplomatic boycott by several governments? Ning Wang shows the dilemma the Olympic sponsors are in – and how they try to escape the situation unscathed, with absurd actions at times.
It is a complex picture that China represents when it comes to environmental protection. On the one hand, it is the world’s biggest climate offender, generates tons of radioactive nuclear waste with its myriad of reactors and burns mountains of dirty coal. On the other hand, Beijing has realized that China cannot avoid climate change. That’s why it wants to become a pioneer in climate protection.
In the future, companies are to offer their products and services in a climate-neutral, sustainable – in short, an eco-friendly manner. At least, that’s what the central government’s new climate protection plan envisions. Nico Beckert took a closer look at Beijing’s regulations and points out the problems that still need to be solved on the way to sustainable consumption. Otherwise, these promising plans will quickly turn out to be an eco-friendly mirage.
US companies are once again some of the biggest Olympic sponsors of this year’s Winter Games in Beijing. Be it Coca-Cola, Procter & Gamble, Airbnb, Intel, or Visa – they are all among the 13 “TOP” partners of the world event. Partnering their company with one of the world’s biggest sporting events is a major success for PR executives.
After all, the Olympic Games are a no-brainer for companies: A huge stage on which the world’s top athletes set new records. Higher, faster, further! And millions of people are watching. And the brands are everywhere: On sports suits, equipment, food, drinks, and snacks.
But this time, PR departments had little reason for celebration. When the US government called for a diplomatic boycott just a few weeks before the start of the Winter Olympics, alarm bells started ringing at corporate headquarters. Nightly Zoom meetings and hours of phone calls were the result, as Mark DiMassimo recently told CNN.
The founder and creative director of the New York advertising agency DiGo explains that one question above all dominated hectic discussions: What does this diplomatic boycott mean for the sponsors? After all, no one wanted to see their products associated with “Genocide Olympics”. This is what voices from the US had called the Olympics in an attempt to draw attention to the situation of the Uyghurs in Xinjiang. The backdrop is the massive violation of human rights by the Chinese government in Xinjiang.
Not only US companies are affected. Olympic sponsors also include German insurer Allianz, Japanese automaker Toyota, and French technology consultancy Atos. Even the Swiss watch brand Omega is a sponsor. It has also recruited US-Chinese freestyle skier Eileen Gu as a brand ambassador (China.Table reported). Gu has already won a gold medal – and Omega was likely pleased. After all, Olympic champion is a title for life.
But outside the venues, sponsors are more skeptical this year. Many companies consider a media-effective presence in Beijing to be less lucrative this time. Increased attention in connection with the controversial Olympics could cause far too many problems. Political and social aspects overshadow any sporting aspects.
Coca-Cola’s situation illustrates the predicament in which companies find themselves this time around. Towers of shiny golden cans were erected throughout the country for the Winter Olympics – a special edition that the US manufacturer had specially designed for the Olympics in Beijing. However: These golden cans will only be on display in the supermarkets of the People’s Republic during the Olympics. This time, Coca-Cola prefers to do without any big marketing events like those for the 2008 Summer Games. Such events could be noticed in the US and Europe, after all. There won’t be any PR events on social media, either.
Another problem: Human rights organizations accuse corporations of “missing the opportunity” to denounce China for its “appalling human rights record”. “Businesses need to know that under the UN guiding principles on business and human rights, they have a responsibility to identify and mitigate human rights risks, and that helping [the] Chinese government’s reputation laundering is risking being complicit in those abuses,” said Wang Yaqiu, a senior researcher on China at Human Rights Watch back in November.
Coca-Cola’s main problem is called Mengniu. The Americans have signed a partnership with the Chinese dairy company. But Mengniu operates a bottling plant in the region of Xinjiang. And even if there is nothing fundamentally wrong with this, this connection alone could raise mistrust against Coca-Cola.
US chip manufacturer Intel surrendered in the face of mounting pressure: First, the company urged its suppliers not to use products manufactured in Xinjiang (China.Table reported). But this was followed by kowtowing to Beijing, when Intel again publicly apologized for this request. It was merely a matter of “complying with US laws,” Intel announced via the Chinese short message service Weibo in late December. One thing to note: Intel earns a quarter of its global revenue in the Chinese market.
Stephan Woellenstein, who worked for Volkswagen in China for many years, most recently as VW China CEO, recently said in an interview with the German business weekly WirtschaftsWoche: “Basically, however, we believe that sport brings people of different backgrounds together and can promote dialogue between the countries and peoples of the world.”
In just a single sentence, it becomes clear how unreflective PR slogans are parroted, and even experienced corporate executives close their eyes to reality. Sport can no longer be considered to be outside the realm of values or morals. For example, top international soccer players have long since ceased to be mere athletes and instead have become role models for millions of young people. VW sponsors soccer because, according to Woellenstein, it is the “number one sport in many markets.”
When asked about the working conditions at VW’s Chinese plants in Xinjiang, Woellenstein emphasizes that the Group abides by the United Nations’ guiding principles on business & human rights. Major sports associations and clubs make things even easier for themselves, constantly referring to their non-political role and the uniting power of sport.
Insurance group Allianz, which recently became one of the International Olympic Committee’s (IOC) global sponsors, received approval last year to launch its own life insurance division in China (China.Table reported). But the price that companies like Allianz pay for access to the Chinese market and its consumers may be hefty. They risk alienating their Western customers.
Whether the equation – larger market = more customers – will work out, in the end, is uncertain. After all, not only Western customers are growing irritated. More and more Chinese consumers are also turning to domestic brands (China.Table reported). That is because the resources of Chinese propaganda, which the Communist Party uses to generate more and more nationalism in China, are probably greater than any sponsorship budget of foreign companies.
Germany imports more clothing and textiles from China than from any other country in the world. Only the dumping prices of Chinese clothing and other Asian countries have made the mass consumption of cheap clothing possible in the West. So it seems slightly bizarre that Beijing is now urging its own citizens to buy clothing “sensibly and appropriately, in line with their actual needs”.
It seems as if Beijing has recognized that the throw-away mentality that is so common in the West and has long since arrived in the Middle Kingdom is not sustainable and clashes with the country’s own climate goals. The government has set itself ambitious-sounding goals. By 2025, the “market share of green and low-CO2 products is to increase significantly.” In addition, “extravagance and waste are to be effectively curbed“. By 2030, green and low-CO2 products are even to become “mainstream”. That is according to a new plan to promote green consumption. Planners have identified eight sectors in which sustainable consumption is to be strengthened:
The call for green consumption could be met with approval among consumers in the Middle Kingdom. In a survey by management consultants PricewaterhouseCoopers, 72 percent of respondents stated that they “buy from companies that are conscious and supportive of protecting the environment”. Another 72 percent stated that they pay attention to sustainability certificates when consuming. However, such surveys should be taken with a pinch of salt.
Even in international comparison, at least the younger generation of Chinese performs well. According to a recent survey by the Credit Suisse Research Institute, more than 60 percent of the 1,000 Chinese surveyed stated that they have shifted their consumption to more eco-friendly products or exclusively buy such products. In Germany, the ratio was only just over 40 percent. A certain proportion of respondents will present their own behavior better than it actually is. The exciting thing about the Credit Suisse survey is that more than half of the Chinese respondents do not trust the sustainability promises made by companies. And there are indeed signs that this skepticism is entirely justified.
Chinese companies are increasingly presenting themselves as sustainable to the public. They are frequently using buzzwords such as “carbon neutrality,” “sustainability,” or “environmentally friendly” to promote their products and services. But when it comes to publishing their emissions and highlighting tangible progress, there is often only silence.
Until now, there have been few oversight bodies to monitor climate promises made by Chinese companies. “There is no national standard or mechanism to verify all the carbon-neutral claims made by companies, and the institutions that judge offset projects vary significantly,” Qin Yan, lead carbon analyst at Refinitiv, told Bloomberg. While there are media and independent organizations in Europe that critically analyze climate promises, “the Chinese way is top-down and it relies on administrative regulations.”
There are also major gaps in the sustainability reporting of Chinese companies. Many of the largest Chinese stock exchange-listed companies now publish a report with information on environmental, social, and governance topics (ESG). But in the past, only a fraction of these reports have been independently reviewed (China.Table reported).
Only 26 percent of the ESG reports of CSI 300 companies even include information on the greenhouse gas emissions emitted by the respective company. “Overall, ESG data disclosed by Chinese companies is still insufficient,” write Dezan-Shira’s business consultants. Even a recent reform of reporting is hardly sufficient, as it does not cover all (listed) companies (China.Table reported).
Beijing seems to have recognized these problems. It plans to expand the standards, certification, and labeling systems for sustainable products and services and bring them into line with international standards. Standards for power saving are also to be improved. In addition, the government wants to develop standards for greenhouse gas emissions for key industries and products. For “key products,” the government also wants to assess the introduction of carbon footprint standards.
Overall, the plans to promote green consumption still remain rather vague. “The plan is more of a call to action than a formula for solving the problems at hand,” say experts at consulting agency Trivium China. The big challenge with green consumption, they say, is making people aware of the benefits.
For EVs, the government had been relying on financial incentives and tax breaks for consumers. But that was hardly feasible for other consumer goods. “The government needs to find ways to incentivize consumers without giving billions of renminbi to each consumer segment,” the consultants assessed.
Monday was an Olympic day with relatively few medals. But one of them went to China in women’s aerials. Meanwhile, social media voiced frustration about Chinese-American freestyle star Eileen Gu and her privileges.
When Wolfgang Niedermark speaks about China, regret echoes in his voice. Since October 2020, the 56-year-old German has been a member of the Executive Board of the Federation of German Industries (BDI). In both his professional and private life, he has witnessed China’s economic prowess, cultural diversity, and social dynamism on the ground over many years. “Since I had many positive experiences with the Chinese people,” he says, “I’m driven to the side of those who want to cooperate with China full of sympathy and with good spirits.”
On the other hand, and this is the big “but,” the nationalistic course of the Communist Party harmed so many things that it is difficult to maintain this positive attitude. “The totalitarian course under Xi Jinping is causing great concern for us, as it does for many others.”
Asia already had its hooks in Niedermark while he was studying economic geography at the University of Muenster. He was particularly fascinated by India, which he backpacked across as a student. In India, he had gotten engaged to his wife, and the couple later “dragged” their children along on their travels through Southeast Asia. They are a “Pacific family,” he says, and have lived in Seoul and Hong Kong and felt very much at home there.
Originally, Niedermark wanted to work primarily in India, but he found that there was ultimately more momentum in China. From 1998, he headed the business of the East Asian Association in Hamburg and was also a member of the executive board of the Asia-Pacific Committee of German Business.
He first came into closer contact with China and its people in 2003, when he helped set up the magazine business for what is now the Bauer Media Group in Asia. “That was a fascinating experience,” he says. “The Chinese at that time had an incredible enthusiasm for our topics from the West, a desire and mutual curiosity.” Niedermark felt the same way. He made the same experience during the three-year campaign “Germany and China: Moving Ahead Together” for the Expo 2010 in Shanghai.
In 2016, Niedermark took over as head of the Chamber of Foreign Trade in Hong Kong after leading the Berlin office at BASF AG for several years. Hong Kong has long been a place of longing: “I like places where East and West flow together.” But after moving there with his wife and two sons, he witnessed firsthand how the principle of “one country, two systems” was abolished.
An anecdote serves as an example: In his first year in Hong Kong, polite traffic policemen would have almost apologized for giving him a fine. Four years later, he was waved out by a policeman, even though he had committed no apparent traffic violation. “They called me a smug foreigner.” That, he said, is just one of many stories of how nationalistic tones have poisoned the atmosphere in China.
This entrenchment is also reflected in political relations: “This is not so much the fault of us in the West, but because China presents itself differently today,” says Niedermark. This has already been noticeable for several years. But Germany, and, in fact, the entire West, has not yet found a clear answer to the question of how to deal with the situation. “We are in an interim phase in which the old relationships are still functioning reasonably well, but new forms of interaction and cooperation have not yet been born.” This phase of misunderstandings and mistrust is something we now have to get through, Niedermark says, before hopefully regaining constructive cooperation. Adrian Meyer
Away from the Olympics, a much more important festival is taking place in China this Tuesday: the Lantern Festival, or Yuanxiao Festival (元宵节, Yuánxiāojié). On this day, huge lantern shows are held, with zodiac signs being especially popular. And so this year, children in Wenzhou are making tiger lanterns. It is the closing of the New Year festival in China, which lasts several days.
