To many outsiders, China is intriguing. What makes the Chinese tick? And just what does it mean to be Chinese? David Wei getting candid with Forbes India in an exclusive interview
Who is David Wei?
He is CEO of Alibaba.com
Everybody in other parts of the world seems to view China and the Chinese with fear. How much of an issue is that when you go abroad to look for business?
Look at it this way. People don’t get afraid of overseas Chinese coming from Singapore or Hong Kong. Yes, we are from mainland China. That is why we keep asking ourselves, why are people not afraid of the Chinese from other parts of the world. I guess it is because they come from smaller places and smaller places are perceived as less of a threat. The other thing is people are afraid of China because it exports things. We keep telling everybody, Alibaba doesn’t export anything. No physical products, services, or for that matter like the Americans, ideas, culture, values, nothing. We’re not here to take anything away or impose anything. If you don’t need us, we’ll just disappear.
(This story appears in the 17 July, 2009 issue of Forbes India. To visit our Archives, click here.)