Sat, 19 May 2012 06:56:42 -0400 http://www.socialsphere.com/blogdetails SocialSphere Feeds SocialSphere en Mon, 08 Dec 2008 05:00:00 -0500 http://www.socialsphere.com/blogdetails/241_Eisenhower-Fellow-in-China%3A-Days-14-The-End-%28Beijing%29 What day that includes two massages isn't a good one?  During our Eisenhower Fellowships dinner on Saturday night, my neck was really acting up -- to the point where one of my new friends, Dr. Ding Xiaoliang must have noticed and then asked me if I was interested in attending the hot springs with him on Sunday morning for some neck and back healing, Eastern medicine style.  What else was I going to do on a cold, windy Sunday afternoon?  After a 45-minute ride on the very nice Beijing subway (round trip costs less than the a copy of the Boston Globe) -- I met up with Ding (who drives a Buick Regal, they are very popular in China) and he took me to his spa.  What a scene -- Sunday morning (not a lot of church in China anyway) and this is the place to be.  Hundreds of people.  Every day Chinese citizens, smoking cigarettes, drinking tea, playing Chinese checkers, me forcing myself into a Michael Phelps-like swimsuit -- trust me, it was quite the scene.  John Della Volpe http://www.socialsphere.com/blogdetails/241_eisenhower-fellow-in-china-days-14-the-end-beijing Thu, 04 Dec 2008 09:13:10 -0500 http://www.socialsphere.com/blogdetails/237_Eisenhower-Fellow-in-China%3A--Day-10-11-12-13-%28Beijing%29 I have to be honest, our first day in China's capital city was a rough one.  We arrived around noon from Hong Kong where the weather was a perfect 72 and sunny and while the new international airport terminal is spectacular, the combination of a bad air day and biting wind made my eyes almost bleed.  It was pretty nasty.  As soon as we checked in to our hotel we ran quickly over to Tienanmen Square -- what most all foreigners do -- where we hung around, took lots of photos and gazed at the impressive moat and gate around the Forbidden City.  One of the many benefits of Eisenhower Fellowships is that they very much encourage you to manage your own schedule in such a way that leaves plenty of time for meetings, but also sightseeing and interaction with local people.  Well, up until our walk home from Tienanmen every interaction with every Chinese person was what we had wished for.  Welcoming, warm, open -- the hospitality was incredible. That was until a John Della Volpe http://www.socialsphere.com/blogdetails/237_eisenhower-fellow-in-china-day-10-11-12-13-beijing Tue, 02 Dec 2008 08:25:53 -0500 http://www.socialsphere.com/blogdetails/233_Eisenhower-Fellow-in-China%3A--Day-5-6-7-8-9--%28Xiamen-and-Hong-Kong%29 It has been very hard for me to keep up with the blog, so I am going to summarize the middle two legs of my trip in one shot. As I write this, I am into my third week in China – and am continually struck by two things:   I have, and China has, come a long way since I watched the standoff in Tienanmen Square in my college dorm in 1989.  Less than 20 years later, I am writing this post in Starbucks, next to Cartier and Gucci, across from a Rolls Royce dealership, listening to Christmas music -- less than a mile away from the spot when the Chinese tank came nose to nose with a student activist.  Pretty amazing, BUT -- Despite what I’ve seen in Shanghai, Xiamen, Hong Kong and Beijing – China is very much a developing country – there are more people in China earning less than $1 a day than there are total people in the U.S. – probably much more.  I think the West forgets this sometimes.  A 45-minute subway ride to the outskir John Della Volpe http://www.socialsphere.com/blogdetails/233_eisenhower-fellow-in-china-day-5-6-7-8-9-xiamen-and-hong-kong Mon, 24 Nov 2008 01:02:46 -0500 http://www.socialsphere.com/blogdetails/232_Eisenhower-Fellow-in-China---Day-4 Great day (Thursday) -- met four entrepreneurs and pioneers of the China Web 2.0 and Mobile Space - Mr. Huang Zhaolin, Assistant Chairman, 51.com: After a 20-minute subway ride to the Shanghai Technology Industrial Park, we met with a great guy named Mr. Huang Zhaolin (or, Max) – who I believe is somewhat of a social networking legend in these parts, originally from Taiwan and one of the leaders of the biggest social networking company on the planet.   Max is probably in his early to mid-30’s and has been blogging for about a decade with thousands of loyal followers.  Safe to describe 51.com as China’s MySpace, Max mentioned a few numbers that made the hair on my neck stand up including that they have: 150 million subscribers, 30 million unique visitors/month, and 200,000 new registered users every day.  They are to MySpace in China what Xiaonie.com is to Facebook.  Unlike most of the U.S. based social networking sites – the Asian o John Della Volpe http://www.socialsphere.com/blogdetails/232_eisenhower-fellow-in-china--day-4 Thu, 20 Nov 2008 09:42:39 -0500 http://www.socialsphere.com/blogdetails/231_Eisenhower-Fellow-in-China%3A-Day-3 Tonight (Thursday) is our last night in Shanghai, cannot believe how quickly the trip is going.  It’s been an absolute whirlwind.  Here’s a low-down of Day 3: Shanghai Museum and Shoeshine for the Boss: The best part of this story is not the museum but the walk from our hotel over to People’s Square where it’s located.   I am not exaggerating when I say that Linda and I were minding our own business when two guys literally jumped out from behind a tree in a park and squirted some white creamy liquid on my shoes. These two guys insisted on three things:  1) Telling me how poor they were; 2) Telling me (aka, the “Boss”) that I needed a shoeshine; 3) That I had a very beautiful girlfriend.  Despite the fact that they were correct on 2 out of 3 statements – I really did not need a shoeshine.  I said no, bu, no, no, no, bu, bu – but next thing I knew my right leg was lifted up, propped up on a wooden sh John Della Volpe http://www.socialsphere.com/blogdetails/231_eisenhower-fellow-in-china-day-3 Wed, 19 Nov 2008 00:48:42 -0500 http://www.socialsphere.com/blogdetails/228_Eisenhower-Fellow-in-China%3A--Days-1-and-2-%28Part-One%29 My wife Linda and I left our house at 5:15 AM on Sunday morning and arrived safely (not easy given the fact that our driver seemed to be intentionally driving at full-speed toward anything in his way – other cars, pedestrians, bicyclists, etc.) in our Shanghai hotel Monday afternoon, a little past 4:00 PM in the afternoon local time.  After a quick visit with our local interpreter, Ms. Irene, we had a quick drink with my fellow fellow Rob Freund and his wife Holly – who have been in Asia a few weeks ahead of us, already haven checked Tapai and Hong Kong off their agenda. Our first full day on the ground was just about perfect.   Linda, Irene and I spent most of the day at Fudan University (one of the most elite in China).  Later in the afternoon, they continued on to one of the pearl markets, while I met up with local entrepreneur Mu Rong, CEO of PepTalk – before meeting up again with Rob and Holly for what was a 5-star, close to 25-course Shangha John Della Volpe http://www.socialsphere.com/blogdetails/228_eisenhower-fellow-in-china-days-1-and-2-part-one Fri, 16 May 2008 05:00:00 -0400 http://www.socialsphere.com/blogdetails/212_Eisenhower-Fellowship---Korea-Days-11-13 Wednesday, May 14, 2008: My day started off very very well - I spent a little more than an hour with Mr. Sang-jun Park, President & CEO of Cyworld — Korea’s MySpace and Facebook all wrapped up into one. Check this out America — according to online reports, 90 percent of Koreans in their 20s and 25 percent of the total population of Korea are registered users of Cyworld , and in September 2005, monthly unique visitors are about 20 million. NB: Korea’s population is about 46 million total. With one of the goals of my time in Korea to better understand the social networking phenomenon in Korea and talk about the differences between Asian and American markets — this meeting was one of the best — and a perfect example of what the Eisenhower Fellowship is all about. Six months ago, I developed a program and requested meetings with the CEOs of Korea’s most important Internet companies — never really thinking that I would get them — gu John Della Volpe http://www.socialsphere.com/blogdetails/212_eisenhower-fellowship--korea-days-11-13 Thu, 15 May 2008 05:00:00 -0400 http://www.socialsphere.com/blogdetails/213_Eisenhower-Fellowship---Korea-Day-10 Thursday, May 15, 2008: After a few very rewarding and needed days of R&R, touring Korea's markets and some countryside, I was looking forward Tuesday morning to getting back to my meeting schedule. Unfortunately, the weather was a little cold and rainy when I met my new friend and interpreter Nicole (ne, ne — she also suggested I look like Nicholas Cage, I DON'T GET IT, but will move on) and followed her underground a few blocks to the Koreana hotel for iced coffee and conversation with two of the rising stars, Internet and social entrepreneurs of Korea --  Mr. Hee-Jue Byun and Mr. MyungGi Kim. Ms. Ji Yi Chung suggested last week that I'd enjoy meeting these young men, and she did not disappoint. We instantly connected about Internet, politics, and pop culture and spoke for about an hour about recent trends in Korea and their potential impact for the economic and political climate in Asia and abroad. The most interesting part of our conversation focused on the emergi John Della Volpe http://www.socialsphere.com/blogdetails/213_eisenhower-fellowship--korea-day-10 Tue, 13 May 2008 05:00:00 -0400 http://www.socialsphere.com/blogdetails/214_Eisenhower-Fellowship---Korea-Days-7-9 A three-day weekend, Korean style – Saturday, May 10, 2008: As I have spent more time in Korea, I have found my days to be more busy, not less, so apologies for taking a few days to update the posts. I spent my first full weekend day in Seoul (Saturday, May 10th) sightseeing for half the day in Itaewon and the other half was spent in afternoon and evening meetings. Based on the excellent recommendation of Ms. Chung I visited the Leeum Museum of Art — which like so much of my experience in Korea, was a warm display of traditional and modern culture under one roof. I did not have too much time, but spent the first part of my visit in the traditional gallery, which included several floors, each dedicated to one of the following: Metal work, Buddhist art, Ceramics and Painting/Calligraphy. To be honest, I am a little surprised, but my favorite exhibits in this wing of the museum were ceramics, mostly Celadon from the Koryo period of the 11th century. The second half of the m John Della Volpe http://www.socialsphere.com/blogdetails/214_eisenhower-fellowship--korea-days-7-9 Fri, 09 May 2008 05:00:00 -0400 http://www.socialsphere.com/blogdetails/215_Eisenhower-Fellowship---Korea-Day-6 Friday, May 9, 2008: Although I would have preferred to have been operating on a little more sleep that I did Friday for my second day of meetings, I made up for it last (Friday) night and am getting ready for another full day — morning and early afternoon sightseeing followed by coffee and dinner meetings later this evening. After meeting my interpreter at the hotel (Nicole) we took a taxi for about a 20 minute ride to meet with one of Korea’s leading NGO activists, Mr. Seung Chang Ha. Mr. Ha is currently chairman of the steering committee for Civil Society Organizations Network in Korea, but much of our discussion (completely with the aid of Nicole), focused on his work for another organization called Citizen Action Network. Action’s work — especially in the late 90’s and early-00’s focused on 1) government watchdog/waste, 2) corporate social responsibility, and 3) Internet activities (both freedom and privacy issues). I remember seeing the powe John Della Volpe http://www.socialsphere.com/blogdetails/215_eisenhower-fellowship--korea-day-6 Thu, 08 May 2008 05:00:00 -0400 http://www.socialsphere.com/blogdetails/216_Eisenhower-Fellowhip---Korea-Day-5 Thursday, May 8, 2008: If a few months ago sometime told me that on a Thursday night in May, rather than watching one of my kids play baseball or softball — I would be found in a Seoul karaoke bar singing Sweet Caroline with 10 Koreans providing back-up vocals, I would have thought you were crazy or taken the keys from you. Well, it happened last night, I live to tell about it — and so ended (or nearly ended) my 5th day on the Korean peninsula. The day started at 10 AM yesterday as I met Nina, a local grad student who will share the interpreting skills with one of her friends for the remainder of my stay in Seoul. I was unsure how much I would have to rely on her during the first part of the day — but by mid-afternoon I was very grateful that she was by my side, helping with the translation (some meetings she helped a little, others were 100% Korean) and getting me to my meetings ontime. Following is a quick round-up of the day, much too much detail in every meetin John Della Volpe http://www.socialsphere.com/blogdetails/216_eisenhower-fellowhip--korea-day-5 Wed, 07 May 2008 05:00:00 -0400 http://www.socialsphere.com/blogdetails/217_Eisenhower-Fellowship---Korea-Day-4 Wednesday, May 7, 2008: Getting a feel for the neighborhood and settling in, coming to you for the second day from the neighborhood Starbucks. The Dunkin Donuts is down the street, have not tried that yet, but given the schedule and time zone difference, I don’t think they can match the Iced Venti Latte in terms of caffeine intake. I spent yesterday at the Seoul Digital Forum for the second and my last day. Whereas Tuesday’s session focused nearly exclusively on media, new and old — Wednesday’s session was more diverse. I attended sessions on the environment and energy, but the two favorites were Will.I.Am’s afternoon talk on the future of the entertainment industry and a late afternoon session regarding urban planning in the digital age. Although I think it took a few minutes for the mostly older, mostly Korean audience in attendance to appreciate Will.I.Am’s significance in American culture today — by the end of the hour session, they were John Della Volpe http://www.socialsphere.com/blogdetails/217_eisenhower-fellowship--korea-day-4 Tue, 06 May 2008 05:00:00 -0400 http://www.socialsphere.com/blogdetails/218_Eisenhower-Fellowship---Korea-Day-3 There were a few reasons why I chose to spend the first two weeks of May in Seoul for the fellowship — one being that most of the work at Harvard Institute of Politics is complete for the semester and another is that my stay dovetails nicely with the Seoul Digital Forum. Generally considered the world’s foremost conference on the impact of digital technology, this is the fifth year of SDF and I am fortunate to attend this invitation only event. Tuesday, May 6, 2008: My day started Tuesday with a subway ride (the cleanest, quietest subway I’ve ever seen) across town to the east side of the city to the conference, spent a good part of the afternoon meeting with 2004 Eisenhower Fellow and my new friend Chunghwan Choi (one of Korea’s leading entertainment lawyers and scholars related to copyright laws), and was treated to a 10 (yes 10) course Korean dinner with my host, EF Fellow Jiyu Chung, EVP of the Maritime and IT businesses at Hyundai and her colleague, Dr. S John Della Volpe http://www.socialsphere.com/blogdetails/218_eisenhower-fellowship--korea-day-3 Mon, 05 May 2008 05:00:00 -0400 http://www.socialsphere.com/blogdetails/219_Eisenhower-Fellowship---Korea-Days-1-2 For those who have not caught up — I left Saturday afternoon, May 3rd for a two-week trip to Korea. Last year, I was nominated and accepted as an Eisenhower Fellow for 2008 and will focus on the impact that Web 2.0, social computing technology and the Millennial generation are having on the culture, business and politics of Asia. In addition to meeting and working with about 30 of the world’s best and brightest from the U.S and 25 other countries — the Fellowship will allow me to travel extensively over 2008. I will be in Korea until May 17th and then returning to Asia after the November elections where China and perhaps Malaysia will be on my agenda. The goal of the fellowships is simple, and I will work hard to live up to it: to engage emerging leaders from around the globe to enhance their professional capabilities, broaden their contacts, deepen their perspectives, and unite them in a diverse, worldwide network where dialogue, understanding, and collaborat John Della Volpe http://www.socialsphere.com/blogdetails/219_eisenhower-fellowship--korea-days-1-2