<\/p>\n
By Beth Bandy of International Fundraising Intelligence<\/a> (One year\u2019s subscription access US$75, originally published October 2011)<\/p>\n Review by Sabine Schuller, Research Specialist, The Rotary Foundation<\/p>\n Why it caught my eye:<\/em> I have seen very few comprehensive resources on how to uncover information outside the US much less a guide finding facts about China or in Chinese.\u00a0 You can view a six minute video about the resource here.\u00a0 http:\/\/www.ifintelligence.com\/training\/country-guides\/<\/a><\/p>\n Pros\/Cons:<\/em>\u00a0 It\u2019s most helpful to read the guide on-line with two screens.\u00a0 That way you can view the manual on one and access the online resources on the other.\u00a0 You can click on the hyperlinks to view the original internet source and copy the Chinese characters directly from the guide\u2019s text to your browser.\u00a0 The guide also assumes that you are able to download Google Chrome onto your computer to take full advantage of its Translate feature.\u00a0 The manual focuses on free, online sources and does not cover paid subscription sources such as Bureau van Dijk or CSMAR (China Stock Market and Accounting Research Database).\u00a0 Finally, the handbook assumes the reader has solid experience in finding information online and critical thinking skills.<\/p>\n The author understands the restrictions of a guidebook and doesn\u2019t try to explain every aspect of finding Chinese information in complete detail \u2013 that would take several volumes.\u00a0 Instead, it is a tool that will help overcome a researcher\u2019s initial hurdles.\u00a0 She highlights those resources she has found most useful and provides helpful links in both English and Chinese.\u00a0 These connect the searcher who wants to delve deeper with additional information.<\/p>\n Beth Bandy\u2019s guide goes far beyond a simple listing of websites.\u00a0 The author\u2019s sound philosophy is to highlight the benefits of using Chinese information sources and searching in Chinese.\u00a0 She takes pains to explain how the non-Chinese speaker can still take advantage of those resources.\u00a0 She carefully outlines potential language pitfalls and how to not accidentally miss information.\u00a0 The author also evaluates sources\u2019 reliability.\u00a0 For example, she rightly points out the importance of reviewing several news sources about an event or person to gain a balanced perspective.\u00a0 Where there is little or no publically available information for a certain asset class, she provides advice on how to work around that limitation.<\/p>\n I asked a few Chinese speakers to read the Language Tips section.\u00a0 They agreed that the discussion of simplified\/traditional characters, Pinyin\u2019s[1]<\/a> history, and dialects were all correct.\u00a0 One tried several of the techniques described in the guide.\u00a0 She found that using a search engine to \u201ctranslate\u201d the Pinyin into Chinese characters, using the glossaries on the CSRC and HKEX websites, and the \u2018Baidu\u2019 instructions (a Chinese search engine) all worked well.<\/p>\n The testers also made recommendations for additional information.\u00a0 One reader wished that the guide was clearer about the difference between Mandarin and Cantonese which are spoken, but not written dialects.\u00a0 Therefore there are no Mandarin or Cantonese written characters, only simplified and traditional.\u00a0 Another wished for an emphasis that written Chinese is not a phonetic language, something that can be confusing for non-Chinese speakers.\u00a0 In many languages, each letter represents a sound and the reader can piece together a word letter by letter.\u00a0 In written Chinese, each character represents an entire idea not a sound.\u00a0 A final comment advised that, because of tradition or respect, sometimes some names or institutions are written in their original Romanized form.\u00a0 For example, one of the first national universities is known as Peking, not Beijing University.<\/p>\n A final welcome addition to the guide\u2019s extensive discussion on Pinyin and Chinese characters would have been a section on Chinese names.\u00a0 It\u2019s helpful to be reminded that a Chinese person\u2019s surname traditionally comes first (like HU Jintao) <\/strong>but you can see many variations (like Gong Li or Li Gong).\u00a0 It\u2019s also true that some Chinese adopt a western name such as Jackie Chan.\u00a0 Additionally, there can be many variations in a name\u2019s spelling due to transliteration (e.g. Chen, Chan, Chin).\u00a0 However, you can apply Bandy\u2019s techniques on finding alternate keywords to your prospects\u2019 names and their variations.<\/p>\n When Bandy switched the format of her guide from .pdf to on-line resource she overcame a limitation of all print resources.\u00a0 The reader will need to weigh whether they have the resources to maintain continual access to the manual.\u00a0 At the time of this writing, the guide had one screencast tutorial on how to select a dictionary with plans for more interspersed through the guide.\u00a0 The author also includes several sources how the reader can keep current with Chinese information trends on their own.\u00a0 This is particularly valuable since some Chinese sources are not always available.\u00a0 For example, Sina Weibo (the micro-blogging site) was shut down for three days by the Chinese government in April, 2012.[2]<\/a><\/p>\n I’d recommend it to:<\/em> Experienced Prospect Research (Donor Research) professionals who need to either complete their first Chinese prospect research project quickly or slowly develop their Chinese research skills.\u00a0 The handbook has enough links and information resources to point a researcher to substantial information right away.\u00a0 There are also techniques and perspectives about searching a non-western writing system that can be absorbed over the longer term to improve a researcher\u2019s overall knowledge base.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n