In China, Hacking Has Widespread Acceptance (opens in new tab)

I'm probably slightly biased here, having quite a few good friends that themselves are very involved with the manufacturing scene in China. From what I know and have seen, the apparently widespread cheating you mentioned is much rarer than you say. In many areas there is serious friction between (corrupt) government and business, and it is mostly under such situations where I've known about "non-standard business practices".

That said, if you're white, then I would be more inclined to believe the incidences of fraud you've experienced. I still don't believe it's a majority, but the incidences of foreigner-exploitation in China is significant enough to turn away a lot of potential business. I don't think it's really racism per se, as I think amongst many Chinese, especially the less well-educated, they believe that for reasons of history, foreigners, especially Caucasians, owe them something -- "after all, didn't you guys plunder our country's treasures 100, 200 years ago?" (8 nation alliance, Opium Wars, World War II, etc). It's irrational and this is no excuse or justification of their disgusting behaviour, but I think this is what's happening in many cases.

Still, there seems to be a slightly Sinophobic slant to these articles. Stuxnet (I think most people believe it's American/Israeli?) is just evidence of how far the Pentagon has gone with hacking. Its sophistication is actually amazing, and I while most may claim that "hacking Iran is beneficial for the rest of the world", I don't think the consequent fear of American hacking prowess is irrational at all. Is China's decision to ramp up their own cyber-espionage the right thing to do? I don't know. But I believe that any look at the history of international politics will show that nobody really gives a shit about international law whenever it becomes inconvenient. China is hardly a "victim", as they claim, but the narrative of "Chinese hackers rising" that's so popular these days distracts us from the much-more formidable power that our Pentagon already has.

The attitude in China is that if you don't cheat, you're the fool--because the other guy is certainly cheating you. So everyone lies, cheats, and steals (while of course maintaining a thin veneer of plausible deniability) to avoid being the bigger fool.

This probably is related to the fact that China is a shame-based culture rather than a guilt-based culture. What I mean by that is, people there only feel bad about immoral/unethical behavior if and when they get caught. Wrongdoing is externalized, it exists only in the eyes of others.

"How do you sleep at night?" Is a question Americans often ask when they know someone is getting away with morally wrong or criminal behavior. In China, you will not hear an equivalent question.

A friend told me that in China, reputation is very important. To do business with a reputed company, you have to have a good reputation. As the company that you're working with's reputation gets worse, so do your chances of getting work done / getting paid. Of course, well-reputed companies are probably in higher demand from both suppliers and customers, just like everywhere else, compared to say, cheaper firms.

A bit too pessimistic. Its not that bad here, especially in the bigger non-southern cities.

Out of curiosity, how were you finding business partners?

There are plenty of upstanding businesses (as well as terrible ones) but most markets are fairly opaque; as a Taiwanese person myself I've found most success working with a local partner to manage resources.

The reason that the blame is shifted toward "hackers" is that being proactive with security, while the right thing to do, costs money and time. In a market where software from different vendors is usually only determined by price and update frequency spending additional money and time is a competitive disadvantage. However, if you can push your security failings off onto "hackers" not only do you minimize costs but your customers, if they're not sufficiently savvy to this game, think that you're the better vendor because you're able to "beat hackers at their own game".

Nowhere is this mindset more prevalent than in the anti-virus software field, which of course is another can of worms itself.

I think this community really needs to get over this. Individuals, groups of individuals, or even entire communities do not get to determine the definitions of words or how words are used. Words usage is determined by society at large. If this is how hacking is used by society, then that's what it is. That's how the English language works. That's why the word xerox is an acceptable verb. That's why the meaning of the word gay has changed.

English evolves according to how its speakers and writers use it. Let it go.

> Instead, they're still using "hacking" and "cracking" interchangeably

We lost this one a long time ago...

Being "technically inclined" doesn't make you a hacker either. The news may misuse the term, but so does this entire community. "Hacking" does not mean "doing a software job well".

Or, now that they are blocked, they have nothing to lose by criticising China, unlike other media corporations.