Rebecca Fannin, an international business journalist, spent months at her home in Stamford bringing together interviews from all over China to release her first book, “Silicon Dragon: How China is Winning the Tech Race.”
A second, tech-savvy volume with global insights is on the way.
The daughter of an Ohio University history professor and a kindergarten teacher, Fannin caught the international travel bug as a child venturing overseas on summer vacations.
Fannin attended Ohio University”™s Scripps School of Journalism.
“I moved to New York City and began working in magazines,” said Fannin.
Fannin progressed through the industry to become the editor in chief of International Business Magazine, in Westchester County, N.Y.
“I was there for four years and began going to Asia and writing for publications in Hong Kong, such as Asia Inc.,” said Fannin.
Fannin moved back to New York and became an editor at Advertising Age, a magazine-style collection of news and analysis regarding goings-on in the world of advertising.
Fannin moved back into technology in 1999 after receiving a job offer at Red Herring Magazine to cover international technology development.
“I rode that wake for a couple years, until the dot com bust and since then I”™ve been working for a Hong Kong-based publication that covers venture capital and finance and investing and new technologies,” said Fannin.
Fannin”™s immersion in China resulted in her first book, “Silicon Dragon,” published by McGraw-Hill.
“I traveled all over China and did interviews,” said Fannin. “It”™s really Silicon Valley in China. It”™s the whole cultural similarity with new technologies, new Internet companies, new telecom companies and new dot-com companies that are springing up in China today just like they emerged in the valley a few years ago. It”™s the story about how that”™s happening and who”™s doing it.”
The book profiles leading Chinese entrepreneurs.
“They are the equivalent of Larry Page, Sergey Brin or Steve Jobs,” said Fannin. “Many of them got their education in the U.S. and returned to China as it was opening up. The book is the story of them and how they”™re transforming China and how China is catching up to the West in technological advances.”
Fannin said awareness of the Chinese gaining on our technology prowess is only on the fringes and not receiving enough attention.
“In Silicon Valley there is a definite push back to the idea because it”™s a threat,” said Fannin. “It really is an emerging trend and it”™s just beginning to happen. Many of the venture capitalists who are in the valley who funded Hotmail, Google and YouTube are over in China today looking for the next new thing over there. They”™re putting their money into this idea that China is moving ahead. There”™s been a lot of money made in backing these Chinese startups, said Fannin.
Fannin cited Baidu, China”™s answer to Google that launched in 2005 and Alibaba an e-Bay-like Web site, as examples of the Chinese willingness to build on what America has done.
Fannin is currently working on her second book. She will be spending the spring at her colonial house on Scofieldtown Road writing a broader-scope technology business tome.
“The new book is going to be more global in nature,” said Fannin. “It”™s still centered on global technology hot spots.”
