- Geraldine Johns-Putra
I have been inspired by China for many years and was hooked from my first visit to the country in 2003. I was determined to move there and finally did end up living and working in Shanghai for 2 ½ years. I now live in London but I return to China as often as I can for work and to visit friends.
I am a corporate lawyer and have worked in law firms in Australia, China and the UK for over 12 years. I qualified as a lawyer in 1997. I now own and run my own boutique legal consulting practice based in London specialising in cross-border M&A in China. You can access my firm’s website here and my corporate profile here.
What is my purpose in blogging about China when there are so many blogs already out there about China?
I have a strong personal belief about China. China has as much to teach the rest of the world as it has to learn from it. As observers, our outlook is entrenched and we may sometimes perceive China’s development through a lens influenced by our own values and beliefs. That is only natural, but it can make it challenging for us to visualise a world with China as a true heavyweight in a political, economic, social and cultural sense. China has the potential to substantially influence the world in all those respects.
This is why I have called this blog “View to China”, because it encourages taking a view to a world that is strongly Chinese in influence.
The mission of my own law firm is to build bridges between China and the world, and this blog humbly contributes to that mission, by trying to build understanding in a way that challenges our own personal biases.
Speaking of personal bias, although my lofty aim is to be “objective”, I will invariably colour my commentary with my personal beliefs. These beliefs have been shaped by my cross-cultural upbringing growing up in Malaysia, being ethnically part-Chinese and having lived in Asia, Australia and the UK.
This brings me to my policy on comments:
- I believe in freedom of speech but, on this blog, there will be some limits.
- I will publish all comments other than spam or those which I consider extremely offensive, hateful or obscene.
I look forward to receiving your views, opinions and feedback.