Patti Waldmeir



Profile:
Full name: Patti Waldmeir

Area of interest: China business; US law and society; South Africa

Journals/Organisation: Financial Times

Email: [mailto:patti.waldmeir@ft.com patti.waldmeir@ft.com]

Personal website:

Website:

Blog: http://blogs.ft.com/beyond-brics/author/pattiwaldmeir/#axzz1tQ6v3hPm

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Biography:
About:

Education:

Career: Joined FT 1981: Johannesburg bureau chief 1989/1996; Lex columnist; Lex columnist; US legal columnist; US editor of FT

Current position/role: Shanghai correspondent


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Disclosures: Viewpoints/Insight:

Broadcast media:

Video:

Controversy/Criticism: Awards/Honours: New York Public Library Helen Bernstein Book Award for Excellence in Journalism, 1998 - for Anatomy of a Miracle

Scoops:

Other:



Books & Debate:

 * Anatomy of a Miracle: The End of Apartheid and the Birth of the New South Africa OCLC35025731, 1997

Latest work:

Speaking/Appearances:

Current debate:



Financial Times:
Column name:

Remit/Info: Chinese business and economy

Section:

Role:

Pen-name:

Email: [mailto:patti.waldmeir@ft.com patti.waldmeir@ft.com]

Website: http://www.ft.com/comment/columnists/pattiwaldmeir

Commissioning editor:

Day published:

Regularity: Occasional comment

Column format:

Average length:



Articles: 2017

 * Jim Hackett, Ford’s philosopher-in-chief - The carmaker’s boss has form in turning round ailing Midwestern brands - 27th May
 * Good news for Trump from the Midwest heartland - Notebook: Victory is a potent tool as is delivering on stump promises - 21st February



Articles: 2016

 * Wisconsin’s Republicans show little enthusiasm for Trump - Notebook - 21st October
 * Why a part of my girls will be forever China - Notebook - 24th May
 * Uber is at the heart of China’s oversharing economy - Notebook - 10th May
 * China’s bridesmaids for hire are sexual harassment decoys - A professional will bear the brunt of the flirting and innuendo some amateurs are unwilling to take - 26th April
 * China’s children are legally bound to respect their elders - Notebook - 12th April
 * Shanghai Notebook: Personal shopping - Taxes and prices have been tweaked in China, enabling many people to procure luxury brands at home - 15th March
 * Chinese companies chase pink renminbi - A Valentine’s day contest sent seven gay couples to the US to marry, paid for by a bedding merchant - 1st March
 * Being a boss is not what it used to be - The Shanghai company where ‘zong’ is no longer king - 16th February
 * The pigs and hens set to save China - More shoppers want to avoid pollution on their food and are willing to drop a dime on doing so - 2nd February
 * One small boy’s journey from a Chinese street to Seattle - How an abandoned six-week-old baby ended up with two families - 19th January
 * China’s middle class runs for its life - Marathon organisers once struggled to fill starting blocks, now runners compete to enter - 5th January



Articles: 2015

 * Wealth comes with health warning in China - If ‘right living’ head of one of country’s leading companies can disappear, then no tycoon is safe - 15th December
 * Chinese embrace the smart way to pay - The marriage of online and offline arrives at the neighbourhood wet market - 10th November
 * A silver lining to the one-child policy - Flat-screen TVs and new bathrooms — life without grandchildren can have its compensations - 27th October
 * China looks back in anger at British justice - While never a full-blown colony, ‘foreign devil’ forces did rule chunks of vital cities - 13th October
 * Craft beers and palate patriotism - Brews from local ingredients, infused with Chinese philosophy, are quenching a thirst - 15th September
 * China’s caravan parks defy economic fears - As the west panics about growth, the Chinese are out enjoying themselves - 1st September
 * A parable of Oreos and ovens - Once-popular cookie companies are facing competition from an unlikely source: home bakers - 18th August
 * Tales from my daughter’s home town - Details about where my adopted children were born are priceless - 21st July
 * The quest for the meaning of Chineseness - Comedy shows how Chinese Americans are asking where they fit in the world - 23rd June
 * Risks of giving staff in China the chop - Sackings are never simple and can go haywire in a way that is all too common - 27th May
 * A gilded retirement for China’s elders - The same Communist party that took away their youth is allowing them to enjoy their dotage - 12th May
 * China guides tourists in travel etiquette - Newspaper accounts of travellers’ misbehaviour have increased - 28th April
 * Auntie Bai brings rule of law to China TV - Television star claims that 90% of her litigants change their behaviour as a result of her show - 14th April
 * The unwritten rules of life in China - Mould your own way rather than use kindergarten morality - 31st March
 * China’s sceptical young consumers - When money is no longer enough, what does communism have to offer? - 17th March
 * China’s ‘left-behind kids’ move to city - Lunar new year still finds many ‘economic orphans’ in the country’s rural areas - 17th February
 * Driven to distraction by electric cars - A great idea in theory is more difficult to put into practice - 3rd February
 * Chinese breakfast is a matter of the heart - Nobody loves things western more than the Chinese, but the east dominates the breakfast trade - 19th January
 * Bund stampede not verdict on modern China - New Year’s Eve tragedy reveals something that often feels like a national inferiority complex - 5th January



Articles: 2014

 * China has gifts but no guilt at Christmas - Far more Chinese celebrate the tradition than believe in it - 23rd December
 * A potty past that has been flushed away - A golden tale of toilets conjures up a symbol of development as potent as rule of law punditry - 9th December
 * ‘Lung-washing’ tourism rises in China - Smog-escaping tours are a serious pursuit - 25th November
 * Chinese strike back against party rule - Citizens engage in passive resistance to plethora of new edicts - 10th November
 * Finding failure in the art of persuasion - A how-to guide to Chinese creativity is not sending the right message - 28th October
 * Small-screen diet for mainland China viewers - The reality show in Hong Kong is overshadowed by wartime dramas and pigeons’ bottoms - 14th October
 * Faith in Chinese education fails to add up - How odd that 85 per cent of parents consider sending their children to study overseas - 30th September
 * China practises democracy in class - Primary school voting is to teach pupils responsibility and how to compete in a civilised way - 16th September
 * Pupils say it with throat lozenges - A massacre has highlighted violence and corruption in schools - 3rd September
 * The microcapitalists lurking in our midst - Gone are the bad old days in China when ‘landlord’ was a dirty word - 20th August
 * Red tourism and playing at warfare - I’m a fan of team building involving company-sanctioned aggression - 6th August
 * Casualties of China’s one-child policy - Birth quotas prompted as many as 100,000 international adoptions - 23rd July
 * Hot-house kids have a chance to cool off - Some parents are starting to think a summer of fun will pay off when term begins - 9th July
 * When old big mama comes to the rescue in China - Shanghai government offers a makeover to China’s neighbourhood committees - 11th June
 * The mating of China’s single ‘sea turtles’ - Chinese who have studied overseas then returned find it hard to get a date - 28th May
 * Pollution is too much for China smokers - ​If ever a problem cried out for a totalitarian solution, this is it - 14th May
 * The new opium of a stressed people - There is little as trendy in China as proclaiming oneself a Buddhist - 7th May
 * A game change in public service - Demand for once coveted civil servant jobs in China is declining - 16th April
 * When a touchy-feely approach can work - An American has helped orphans in China by getting officials to say No - 2nd April
 * The battle for the mobile payments market gave - rise to a strange version of the China dream - 18th March
 * The Asian work ethic comes at a price - Modern Chinese are increasingly worried about being pushed too hard - 5th March
 * Sticky or sweet – China’s tricky choice - The country witnessed a clash of eastern and western cultures - 19th February
 * The new year rides in on a whimper - Abstemiousness and pollution have put a damper on celebrations - 5th February
 * China’s little emperors’ reality TV check - A hit show taps into Chinese parents’ middle-class angst over child-rearing - 7th January
 * It’s farewell to the golden chopsticks - President Xi Jinping has inaugurated an era of Chinese abstemiousness - 22nd January



Articles: 2013

 * Breathe in that dirty doublethink - Shanghai’s solution to the ‘airpocalypse’: ‘adjust’ the pollution standard - 11th December
 * After the Plenum, sell pianos and dairy - The easing of the one-child policy has put the pocketbook in focus - 27th November
 * Think ‘The Sound of Music’, with yaks - You might expect a bit of privacy in western China - 13th November
 * Homely lessons from a Tiger Mum - A growing number of Chinese parents are shunning the gruelling school system - 16th October
 * Pay your way to fix an age-old problem - In response to new laws trying to force family to spend time with their elders, a new industry is emerging - 2nd October
 * China’s anti-bling consumers - In China’s smaller cities, thrift is bigger than bling and happiness is about more than handbags - 21st September
 * On the tourist trail of China’s Jews - Patti Waldmeir celebrates the Jewish new year in Shanghai, to where many fled during the war - 18th September
 * Mooncake is eclipsed by austerity - The bland pastry favoured by bureaucrats and crony capitalists is no longer being blinged up - 4th September
 * Eat, drink, man, woman, meatballs - Ikea has figured out ‘glocal’ in a way that has eluded foreign retailers - 21st August
 * When one pair of eyelids isn’t enough - Chinese graduates believe plastic surgery can help them gain jobs - 24th July
 * Tears and hugs in a search for the past - More adopted Chinese children are trying to trace their biological parents - 10th July
 * Ms Beauty escapes the trinket trash - Tourism in China is no solitary experience. Climb the highest mountain and you will have company - 12th June
 * When blue becomes the new white - Unemployment means that Chinese graduates are taking manual jobs - 29th May
 * Chinese lessons for Yahoo’s boss - Telecommuting in China blurs boundaries between home and work - 15th May
 * Puffer-fish protests and Xi’s China dream - The country’s officials are discovering the power of the middle-class Nimby - 1st May
 * Tears, reality TV and the Chinese dream - Xi Jinping is cooking up the China of the future - 17th April
 * In China, how to end it like Beckham - The real money in Chinese sport is not on the pitch but in the ads - 3rd April
 * Dripping pigs rain on a political parade - Ten thousand dead animals polluting a river damps down Chinese hopes - 21st March
 * A guide to gifting in the new China - Tigers and flies are having to change their diet in line with a sudden distaste for corruption - 6th March
 * 20,000 miles to the plate - Monitoring the global food supply chain presents regulators and governments with a tough test - 25th February
 * China’s new rich revive eating as art - Entrepreneurs are spawning a resurgence in feasts - 20th February
 * Stressed sloths in search of indolence - The Chinese are adapting quickly to the joys of doing little close to home - 9th January



Articles: 2012
Selected articles
 * Remembrance of things communist - More wealth has allowed the Chinese to become nostalgic - 19th December
 * The folly of ranking national nirvana - If the state wants to spread joy, it should bring its pocketbook - 5th December
 * China discovers its inner tree-hugger - Chinese kids under the age of six spend less than an hour outdoors every day - 7th November
 * Puppy love found in running dogs - Popularity of pets increases with the spread of capitalism - 24th October
 * Medics  at the sharp end of patient rage - Attacks on China’s doctors reflect public anger over healthcare costs - 12th October
 * Grow taller and give your career a boost - Chinese parents are looking for ways to give their children a head start - 26th September
 * A short course in Manglish: 88,3Q - China’s 500m netizens have developed a creative internet slang language - 12th September



Articles: 2008

 * Investor's notebook: Beijing finally acts to lift equities gloom - Dramatic steps to prop up the Chinese stock market were unveiled by Beijing on Thursday after a 70 per cent fall in stock prices since last October - 18th September 2008
 * Analysis: A golden opportunity? How Chinese brands are betting on an Olympic boost - When Li Ning, the celebrated Chinese gymnast turned sportswear entrepreneur, flew around Beijing’s Bird’s Nest stadium to light the Olympic torch last week, he instantly called the powerful nationalism of the opening ceremony into the service of his eponymous brand - 13th August 2008
 * Investor's notebook: Shanghai bets on Beijing games - The Beijing Olympics mark an important moment in history for the Chinese people. But the Games have an added significance for those millions of small investors who hope that they could also mark a turning point for the Shanghai stockmarket - 7th August 2008
 * Analysis: Deals on hold? - China and India are now so integral to the global financial system that the impact of looming changes to antitrust legislation in both countries is sure to be quickly felt across the world - 28th July 2008 (with Sundeep Tucker)
 * World View: Side-effects of a Swiss takeover - What lies behind Roche’s decision to offer nearly $44bn for the 44 per cent stake it does not already own in Genentech? - 21st July 2008 (with Paul Betts)



Financial Times:
Column name: Legal counsel

Remit/Info: US law and society - focusing predominantly on intellectual property, employment law, legal topics (of interest to business and general readers)

Section:

Role: Columnist

Pen-name:

Email: [mailto:patti.waldmeir@ft.com patti.waldmeir@ft.com]

Website: FT.Com / Patti Waldmeir

Commissioning editor:

Day published: Wednesday

Regularity: Weekly

Column format:

Average length: 800 words



Articles: 2008

 * Judges deal second blow to Bush - The US Supreme Court upheld a ruling that barred FBI agents from searching the legislative office of congressman William Jefferson as part of a corruption investigation - 1st April 2008
 * Divorce is not what it used to be - We Americans are surrounded by law: it is hard to take a step without tripping over it - 26th February 2008
 * Death of self-rule on the internet - Two weeks ago, the company shocked millions of users by radically rewriting the constitution of the democratic republic of Ebay, founded in 1995 not just as an auction site but also as a social experiment in online self-government - 12th February 2008
 * Inertia is the better part of valour - The US Congress seems to operate on the principle that, if you ignore problems for long enough, they will cease to exist. And in the case of US patent reform – which faces a make-or-break vote in the US Senate shortly – they could just about be right - 5th February 2008
 * Internet as legal aid - Everyone who lives in a democracy has no choice but to trust their neighbours to pick their lawmakers – but their divorce lawyers? - 29th January 2008
 * Trust Mum about clones - Eating is no rational matter. Any unhappy lover or overweight teen knows the truth about food: it feeds the mind much more than the body. Emotion matters more than nutrition, and fear matters more than science - 23rd January 2008
 * Techno-toys in court challenge - The US Supreme Court is mediating in a dispute between a bunch of Taiwanese computer makers and a Korean rival that could affect everyone who buys a computer in America - 15th January 2008
 * Tyranny at the US water cooler - Later today, millions of Americans will gather around the digital water cooler to gloat or moan about the results of last night’s dramatic New Hampshire presidential primary election - 8th January 2008



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