Brussels traffic worse than Beijing

As you may know we work from the Brussels Bubble but our firm is global. As such, we’re lucky enough to have the opportunity to work with and meet colleagues and friends from around our company’s 80 odd offices on a pretty regular basis. Our recent 20th anniversary celebrations of our Brussels saw representatives from pretty much every continent (except Antarctica) visit us. One of them was our esteemed colleague Wang Lei from FH Beijing. A former MOFCOM official, Lei has been with us for over 2 years and provides a world of value with his insights on China from our Beijing office. Upon his return to his home country we asked him to answer a few not too cutting quickfire questions about his visit.

The thing that most surprised me about Brussels was…

The traffic. I thought Beijing was the worst city in the world for too many traffic jams and cars but Brussels seems to be even worse.

If there was one thing I’d change about the EU it would be…

To streamline the EU bureaucracy and make it simpler, quicker and more effective.

If I were a European I’d want to be a….

Belgian. They enjoy the freedom of having no government.

If you want to understand China…

Please learn some Chinese, stay in China for a number of years and spend time communicating with locals. If you do not understand what they are saying, and that’s not because of the language issue, please resort to some history books for the answer.

The next big thing to come out of China will be…

A big hug. China is embracing the world with goodwill and money.

If you ever go on a business trip to Beijing don’t forget to…

Climb the Great Wall, for only by doing that will you become a true man! And you will not be surprised to see that the Wall can’t be seen for true men.