Alex Trup's blog

No these are not Formula 1 drivers suffering from dwarfism or some other growth defect. They are in fact school children in Kunyang, the capital of China's Yunnan Province, sporting their new school uniforms. You will likely notice these are like no uniforms you wore when you were at school. Indeed, how could my primary school's red, black and white diagonally striped tie compete with an orange racing jacket strewn with logos of globally famous companies. The logos in question are Vodafone (mobile phone networks), Bridgestone (tyres), Shell (oil), Ferrari (fast cars) and Marlboro (cigarettes).

Anyone that knows me well, knows my passion for dancing. Over the years I've (somewhat irregularly) attended dance classes in a range of styles from Latin and Ballroom to Jazz and Hip Hop. Prior to that, I always just had fun on the dance-floor from my self taught, signature moves. So up until a few months ago, I thought I could dance, but that all changed as began to watch So You Think You Can Dance from the very beginning of Season 4.

So You Think You Can Dance is a reality TV talent show doing for dance what American Idol did for singing - making a career in dance (or in AI's case singing) something anyone can have a go at, but proving it takes pure, real talent and hard work to make it week after week to the final. With the season finale having just wrapped up, I thought I would put together a compilation of my favourite dance routines from the show for both those feeling nostalgic about this season and those that didn't realise what they were missing.

With all eyes on China for the 2008 Beijing Olympics, we are seeing a dramatic increase in the amount of media coverage and blog commentary on every aspect of China and Chinese life. Much (if not most) of what is said about China when not directly related to the Olympic Games is ignorant or exaggerated. Having studied Chinese culture and language for a few years and also lived in Greater China for several more, I have made it my personal mission to improve China's image to the outside world as well as spread a greater understanding about one of the world's largest cultural (note I did not use the word "ethnic") groups to those with little experience of Chinese people beyond their local eat-as-much-as-you-can buffet.

To that end, this will be the first in a series of articles aimed at analysing China in an objective manner using concepts I learnt, adapted or developed over the years. The concepts defined and used in these articles can actually be applied to most countries and should be used to gain a better understanding or a region prior to developing market entry or marketing strategies.