China business

ARAMITH an unprofessional company

Posted on by Gilbert Van Kerckhove

Zero answers

ARAMITH an unprofessional company that ignores any contact. Much like SOCIETE TRANSVINS , see my previous post.
A Chinese friend asked me to contact this Belgian company on behalf of a potential buyer.
Aramith sells billiard balls; they are used for billiard, snooker, carambola. They are supposed to be a world leader. Maybe their business is too good so they don’t care to do anything.
Their contacts:

https://www.saluc.com/
https://www.aramith.com/
https://www.aramith100.com/fr/
To contact:  https://www.aramith.com/contact-us
Rue de Tournai, 2 – 7604 Callenelle – Belgique.

I know they received my email, see below the edited message. I had to confirm I was not spam and approved by Arthur Broudehoux of Saluc.

I informed AWEX. I will refrain from commenting on their follow-up, although they finally informed me ARAMITH does have a local representative, supposedly also difficult to contact. So why did ARAMITH not reply with that simple information?
The attitude of that Walloon company is deplorable and totally unprofessional.
It will teach me, to never try to help exports from companies from Belgium, France and others. Even considering I do it as a goodwill gesture. So, don’t ask for help. I would rather help a Chinese company.

My email

Subject: ARAMITH Tournament BLACK pool ball
11 February 2025
To: contact@aramith100.comSaluc
CC: info@saluc.com
Monsieur, Madame,
CC: Economy, Commerce, and Technology for the Walloon Region, Embassy of Belgium in Beijing AWEX
Je suis Gilbert Van Kerckhove, belge et résident de longue date à Beijing.
Une dame m’a demandé d’aider une société chinoise de vous contacter. Je crois ils ont essayé mais ils ont mal formulé leur message.
J’ai expliqué en détail vos produits et votre site Internet.
La société “666 Billards Club”  a le siège au Fujian et a un chiffre d’affaires de 120 millions de RMB … (introduction de la société)
Après analyse de vos produits ils sont intéresses dans vos “ARAMITH Tournament BLACK pool ball set with Duramith™ Technology”.

Leur plan est d’acheter 10.000 à 20.000 sets de 16 boules avec une première commande de 5.000 sets.
Avez-vous un distributeur en Chine? Si non ils sont intéresses dans le futur de devenir distributeur.
Nous souhaitons établir un contact direct avec votre société pour:
– communication avec la personne en charge
– vos possibilités de livraison
– prix, conditions de vente et paiement.
Une fois le contact établi je ne serai plus dans la discussion,
Dans l’attente de votre réponse,
Bien à vous,
Gilbert à Beijing

Snooker is big in China

Snooker’s popularity has boomed in China in the 21st century. It has been estimated that 50 million people play the sport, up to 350 million watch it and China has 300,000 snooker halls.

Ad on a Beijing street for a snooker hall

Rising Local Talent
Ding Junhui, who became a snooker star in the mid-2000s, is widely credited with sparking a snooker boom in China. His success on the international stage inspired many young Chinese players and fans. Other rising Chinese stars like Zhao Xintong (now world champion!), Yan Bingtao, and Zhou Yuelong have kept interest strong.
Snooker enjoys extensive TV coverage in China, often airing on major sports networks like CCTV-5. Major tournaments are broadcast live, drawing millions of viewers.
The establishment of snooker academies and training centers, such as the World Snooker Academy’s branch in Chengdu, has provided structured pathways for talent development.
Cultural Alignment: Snooker’s emphasis on strategy, precision, and discipline resonates with Chinese cultural values, further cementing its appeal.

SOCIETE TRANSVINS sells fake Languedoc

Posted on by Gilbert Van Kerckhove

 

Fake Languedoc

SOCIETE TRANSVINS sells fake Languedoc in China?
Chinese friends gave us a very nice (and expensive) box with a bottle of red wine from France, Languedoc.
We were immediately a bit suspicious about the name: “Dragon Boat Sait”. Or is it Sail…
There was also another obvious spelling mistake.
We tried the wine in Beijing, two wine specialist said it was a fake, poor quality Chinese wine. Not drinkable. We then had a real Languedoc, as a test of what a real Languedoc wine is.

See the fake Languedoc, a real Languedoc and the contact form on the French website.

Fake French company?

A google led to:

SAS, société par actions simplifiée
SOCIETE TRANSVINS
20 CHEMIN DES PRES, 30260 VIC-LE-FESQ
https://transvins.fr/
contact@transvins.fr

I checked the website and tried in many ways to fill out the contact form, address in Beijing, address in Brussels. I never succeeded, it was said there was something missing… Obviously they don’t want you contact them.

I sent the email below, sent from different email addresses. They were all returned as “rejected”.
I contacted their LinkedIn site. Zero answer.
So the company has zero customer service. What a shame.
Sadly many European companies have non-existing customer service.
That gives Chinese companies an open road to whatever copy they can make.
Sadly I had also bad experience with a Belgian company. I post later.

My email

Subject: Votre soi-disant Languedoc
9 April 2025
To: contact@transvins.fr
SOCIETE TRANSVINS
Bonjour,
Des amis chinois nous ont fait cadeau de ce vin dans une très belle boite (probablement chère). Le nom nous semblait suspect…
Nous avons goutté le vin avec deux spécialistes de vin, ici à Beijing.
Leur verdict: pas buvable, pas de Languedoc. Vin chinois de qualité très douteuse.
Voir les photos. Les étiquettes semblent “OK” mais il y a une belle faute d’orthographe,,,
Nous pensons donc une  arnaque à la Chinoise.
La bouteille est chez nous, ma femme pense l’utiliser pour faire la cuisine.
Pour nous faire plaisir on a pu boire un vrai Languedoc…
Vos commentaires?
Bien à vous,

 

Sun Bingwen, Zhu De and Liu Ding

Posted on by Gilbert Van Kerckhove

Statues near the river side

In a previous post I mentioned the history of Zhu De and Sun Bingwen. On 21 March 2024 a ceremony was held honoring the legacies of Sun Bingwen, Zhu De and Liu Ding. Two groups of statues are located on the river side at Nanxi City.

One location is with the statues of Zhu De and Sun Bingwen, the other is the statue of Liu Ding.
Sun Bin, as the granddaughter of Sun Bingwen and myself paid respect to the grandfather.
Liu Wenshi and Liu Wenshan, sons of Liu Ding the “military industry leader and united front hero” paid respect to their father.

The museums

We visted the Nanxi Museum and then the old residence of Zhu De in Nanxi.
Some of the pictures in the museum were donated by Sun Bin. Pictures feature Zhu De, Sun Bingwen. Sun Yang and Sun Weishi.

When we left the former residence, three young pioneers greeted Sun Bin, Liu Wenshi and Liu Wenshan.
Near the museum I spotted some interesting mural decorations…

Who is Liu Ding

Liu Ding (1902 – 1986) was a native of Nanxi, an older generation revolutionary activist of the Communist Party of China, a loyal communist fighter, and a famous military industrialist. He was an expert in the machinery industry, the founder and outstanding leader of my country’s military industry, and the first president of North China University. He is known as the dean of China’s military industry. In 1924, he joined the Communist Party of China after being introduced by Sun Bingwen and Zhu De. In 1924, he went to Germany for a work-study program and served as secretary of the Youth League branch in Germany. In 1926, he went to the Soviet Union for further study. Graduated from Moscow Oriental University in 1928. In 1929, he was transferred back to China and served as deputy section chief of the Second Section of the Special Section of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China. He has been engaged in underground intelligence work for a long time and made great contributions in the Xi’an Incident.

In 1952, in order to prepare for the trial production of standardized weapons he established a number of basic research institutes to serve the ordnance industry. They are the earliest technological research institutions established in New China.
His background in Chinese can be found here.
See here a transcript of the information in Chinese with partial translation: LiuDing_bio

A forest with Taxus Chinensis

On 22 March 2024 we crossed the Yabgtze River and went up to a mountain to check on the culture of a special plant called Taxus Chinensis, also called Chinese Yew.
In our delegation some participants are interested in the plant, used to produce medicines for cancer treatment, including Paclitaxel and Taxifolin. It can also be used in many other ways and is protected under Chinese and international law. Currently, the species is suffering the consequences of its economic and scientific exploitation for the production of the aforementioned anticancer drugs.

See more here: Taxus chinensis

We had a lunch with very local food on the mountain top.

Nanxi industry and education

Posted on by Gilbert Van Kerckhove

Impressive industry

As mentioned in the previous post, the visit to Nanxi City also included a tour to Nanxi industry and education facilities.
On 21 March 2024 we visited Nanxi Liquor, Huiji Food, Yibin Vocational and Technical College, Far East Copper Foil, and Sichuan Biomedical Medical Equipment Industrial Parc.

The overall impression was that all facilities we visited were very modern and advanced, clean and highly automated.
The Nanxi Liquor is actually where the original Wuliangye started. The compound is immense but counts well below 1,000 workers. We had a sip of the freshly distilled liquor, pretty strong. The facilities have huge warehouses where the liquor is stored and aged.

From friends we later received many bottles of baijiu, 30 years old and alcohol 61%.
Huji Food makes all kinds of snacks, many with tofu.
The compound of Yibin Vocational and Technical College is simply huge and can accommodate some 20,000 students is very modern buildings.
The Far East Copper Foil factory is simply immense, see just one of the many buildings. They make copper and aluminum foil of different thickness, used in many industries, in particular for batteries. Highly automated.
The Sichuan Biomedical Medical Equipment Industrial Park is brand new and waiting for tenants to move in.

Yangtze River lunch

We had lunch near the First Bay of the Yangtze River.

There is a charming park along the river, we visited in a golf cart. No other vehicles allowed.
The road is used for running competitions, including a marathon.
In the next post, more about the events related to Sun Bingwen en Zhu De.

Nanxi City in Sichuan

Posted on by Gilbert Van Kerckhove

The laojia

An official trip to the “laojia” of my wife, Nanxi City in Sichuan,famous because of Zhu De and Sun Bingwen.
On 20 March 2024 we flew to Yibin Wuliangye Airport and then went by highway to Nanxi. This is part 1 of our trip report.

Laojia (老家) is a special term in China, supposed to be the hometown or birthplace. In the case of my wife her “laojia” is Nanxi while she was actually born in Beijing where she spent most of her years. So it refers to her parents and grandparents.

See the Biography of Zhu De. Chinese Edition by Jin Chong.
This book is mainly based on more than 5000 manuscripts, telegraphs, letters and speeches about Zhu De preserved by Central Archives of China – a lot of his work notes, as well as Autobiography of Zhu De in nearly 80,000 words dictated by Zhu De in 1937 and recorded by his secretary Sun Yang.
Sun Yang is the father of my wife Sun Bin and the son of Sun Bingwen.
Sun Bingwen (1885–1927) was a Chinese Communist revolutionary who was executed by the Kuomintang. He met Zhu De in 1917, and served as chief of staff of a brigade. In September 1922, he and Zhu De went to study in Germany and in November of the same year, he joined the Chinese Communist Party in Berlin.
He was arrested and executed by the Kuomintang in Shanghai during the Shanghai massacre of 1927. After his death, his daughter Sun Weishi was adopted by Zhou Enlai, later Premier of China.In Nanxi the memory of Zhu De and Sun Bingwen is important, as shown in the introduction of the city.

Nanxi City is key industrial center and modern city

Nanxi City in Sichuan is a district of the city of Yibin, a prefecture-level city in the southeastern part of Sichuan province. Its population was 4,588,804 inhabitants, according to the 2020 census,

The largest employer in Yibin is Wuliangye Yibin, a company best known for Wuliangye, a brand of sorghum-based distilled spirits known as baijiu. The Wuliangye Group grew from a small company employing just 300 people in 1977 into a large company employing over 20,000 on a seven-square-kilometer plant.
Nanxi has a website but only in Chinese.
Wuliangye started in Nanxi City and later moved to Yibin.

Nanxi has a Autonomous Rail Rapid Transit system, guided by markings on the road. Impressive! More details here.

The city is very modern with excellent infrastructure. Yes, you can say – rich. The apartments have often large balconies.

Major industries and investments

We visited most of the key industries and other on 21 March 2024, more details later.
We were in the Jinjiang Hotel in a large suite, nice. No foreign TV channels of course.

 

Impressive reception dinner in the hotel in the evening of 20 March. Surprisingly the food was not so spicy during our stay!

Officially we headed a large business delegation, all Chinese contacts, to explore projects in the region. On 21 March in the afternoon we had the official meeting with the city to present our delegation and their projects, followed by another impressive dinner.