In the midst of the packed schedule organised by the Forum for the Chinese Delegation, I managed to catch Huang Hung, CEO of China Interactive Media Group (CIMG), for a few minutes to get her thoughts on the Women’s Forum, the activities of the Chinese Delegation and the entrepreneurship landscape in China.

This is not the first time Hung has attended the Women’s Forum. She believes that the Forum plays a critical role in bringing forward women’s point of view. It encourages women leadership to express their views on a wide range of issues, from business and politics to social responsibility and the alleviation of poverty. In addition, the Women’s Forum differs from other women’s conferences because it does not shy away from “feminity”, as evidenced by the beauty and fashion lounges in the Discovery Hall. In her mind, women leaders should be free to express their feminity should they wish to, and should not feel the need to look like a man. In this regard, I believe that “feminity” is regularly associated with “weakness”, and unfortunately this association is often formed by women themselves.

On the events organised for the Chinese delegation, she highlighted two in particular. First, she enjoyed the address given by Laurence Parisot, Chairman of the CEO Council in France. The session gave the delegation a glimpse of how other countries perceive China: the pros and the cons. The political and regulatory risks discussed were also particularly useful for members of the Chinese Government present in the delegation. Second, the session on “How to build an international brand”, led by Cartier, Chanel and Remy Martin, was particularly relevant, as more Chinese companies are eager to graduate from being the “factory of the world” and to move onto building its international brand identity.

As one of China’s most prominent women in publishing, Hung described China as one of the most exciting places in the world right now for entrepreneurship. The size and growth of the market mean that “a lot is possible”. On the downside, she understands that the current infrastructure and regulatory environment in China can be difficult for young companies. Entrepreneurs often find it difficult to find cheap financing, legal and accounting services, amongst others. So, a word of advice for all the budding entrepreneurs in China? Hung summarises it in one concise word: ”Persistence”.

Rebecca Wei, the first woman Partner elected in McKinsey’s Greater China Office and leader of the McKinsey Women Initiative in Asia-Pacific, certainly fits the bill to answer that question. Rebecca began by highlighting the differences between the values of women in different regions of China. In China, family responsibilities are central to the discussion – there is a strong sense of obligation for women to fulfil the “role of the daughter”. In Taiwan, the norm is for many women to stay home after marriage. In Hong Kong, women have the most independence, financially and personally, and “look for the meaning of life”.

Having said that, Rebecca believes that professional women seeks two common things: mentorship and work-life balance. The McKinsey Women Initiative addresses the former by ensuring that every woman has a mentor and by building a community spirit in the work place. “Women need to have a sense of belonging [more than men]; women want to have friends to talk to after a bad day at work”. On keeping mothers in the workforce, McKinsey has a flexible programme which can be designed to reduce working hours or to minimise business travel. Importantly, she highlighted that women on maternity leave cannot be “left on the platform”, and should be ensured that they are able to integrate fully when they return.

According to Rebecca, the McKinsey’s Greater China office has not lost a single woman due to maternity in the last five years. Whether that is driven by the intrinsic character of the McKinsey women or by the Firm’s flexible programme (or, perhaps, both), that is an impressive stat and certainly a step in the right direction.

First of all, a thank you note to my dear fellow blogger Jonathan, for his post on “To be a novelist in China: A missed appointment but no disappointment”. A rather charming post, I must say, and very much like the writer himself. Well, I am not sure whether the event was “no disappointment”, but there was certainly “astonishment”. A casual invitation by the Forum’s Chief Operating Officer, Bruno Vinay, to a chat with acclaimed writer and journalist, Irène Frain, turned out to be a full interview in front of an audience of distinguished women participants, photographer and writers….

So, Jonathan, you think I am an “ambitious and determined young shark”, huh? Hmmm… I have never thought of myself that way. What I can tell you is that there were many moments during the session when this young shark felt more like “Nemo” lost in the wide ocean. Shark or clown fish, the interview was an incredible experience for me. It was an honour to be interviewed by Ms. Frain, a gentle woman with the highest level of perception. She raised some tough, but truly thought provoking, questions (certainly much tougher than many job interviews!). We talked about living as a foreigner in a globalised economy, about Chinese values and about my personal beliefs. Moreover, to have an audience of such high achieving women listen to my young, inexperienced mind, I feel incredibly privileged. The experience made me realise why these women are so successful - because they have the openness and patience to listen to different viewpoints, no matter how naïve or foreign they may be.

My apologies to those who arrived late and thought for most of the session I was the young, talented Chinese writer. Unfortunately, a novelist I cannot pretend to be. But I will remember the first question of the Q&A session for a long time to come: “As a writer, why would you want to pursue an MBA?” A missed appointment – Yes. An astonishment – Yes. An incredible experience – Definitely.

Or: A missing writer, and a young chinese MBA student standing in.

Yesterday at the afternoon tea time, the writer and journalist Irène Frain wanted to provide us with a sociological reading of Xiaolu Guo’s Village of stone (shortlisted for The Independent “Best Foreign Fiction Prize” 2005, and nominated for the Dublin International Literature Award (IMPAC) 2006).

Unfortunetely the novelist gave it a miss. A session less during the forum? Do not even think about it: for women (and all the more so as they are mighty women) do not get used to submitting to fate. So Irene Frain has a quick look outside the smart and affluent-looking “author’s corner”, she sees a dynamic chinese student having her way to the bar, and invites her to join the assembly. She pushes our perfect chinese candidate into the dark intellectual room, so far away (mentally I mean) from the bar with the petit-fours and the so sexy tiny pink champagne bottle created for us …euh I mean for the event.

The upset ambitious girl suddenly felt pushed on stage, in front of the women smilingly waiting for the renowned novelist.

That’s when it became clear to me that, even here, there was deep respect and reverence face to the artistic stuff. It rejoiced me, but there was more than that. The student did the sociological analysis thing by answering the snobbish but actually accurate questions she was being asked (and translated). She has lived both in Hong Kong and in the UK. She is now taking a MBA program at INSEAD. We learned that she considered herself as belonging definitely to the Asia area even if she confessed of feeling a foreigner when traveling now to HK and even more when attending in Beijing (clearly even less British). She talked about her cultural meeting with French people and Fontainebleau (nobody dares question whether that Fontainebleau or the INSEAD campus is at any level representative for the French spirit or reality) but it was really instructive to look at ourselves through her eyes. She quite simply make things clear about values in China vs. Western countries, and how she did not really feel at home anywhere. And above all without being the least troubled from that.

We all were eventually amazingly fond of what that little woman, however partly a Westerner, was telling us about ourselves. We did sociology, and pretty good one. We mentally went away. We talked about fundamental stuff. We talked about what really matters in such a forum: meeting the other with his or her specific experience that can be very valuable. That was an incredibly magical time to hear in that broadly superficial place an ambitious and determined young shark (sorry Bonnie, but it is a compliment) talking about how Chinese values were important to her.

Bonnie — yes, the Chinese student is one of our bloggers, Bonnie Fong — will probably tell about her experience of jumping in for the missing novelist in an upcoming post.