China's many rule-set resets: you need a scorecard to keep up with it all

■"English 101 Becomes a Booming Business," by Jason Dean, Wall Street Journal, 19 September 2005, p. A15.

■"Bridging China's M.B.A. Gap: U.S. Universities Forge Alliances to Help Groom Managers," by Charlotte Li, Wall Street Journal, 20 September 2005, p. A15.

■"Deep Flaws, and Little Justice, in China's Court System," by Joseph Kahn, New York Times, 21 September 2005, p. A1.

China's massive globalization reset (you think China changes the world, you ain't seen nothing yet on how globalization changes China) is amazing to watch unfold.

Three stories here on progress, shortages, and serious stubborn deficits.

The teaching of English in China is taking off like a rocket. Give Chinese families a taste of globalization and put some money in their pockets and they will spend it on getting their kids ahead. In the minds of most parents, English gets their kids ahead like nobody's business.

Here's a sign that you're either in the Core already or heading that way quickly: when your young people see English as a competitive advantage. Show me a Seam or Gap government pushing English, and I'll show you a future member of the Core.

Then there are U.S. biz schools stepping into China big time to help it deal with a huge looming shortage of senior managers, which is a key reason why Chinese companies are so eager to buy American ones: they want the managers as much as the assets.

At the end of the Cold War, there were 9 universities in China that granted MBAs. Now there are almost 100, and they cranked 12,000 a year. Still, this is tiny given the rising demand, so watch U.S. schools augment that domestic effort greatly and--by doing so--export rule sets like crazy.

This can only help in the most dangerous rule set deficit in China today: effective rule of law. We can't expect China to generate that absent a smart, informed demand rising from the business sector. That won't happen without smart, informed managers and lotsa transactions to fuel that learning curve. The drive for economic efficiency will drive the process of legal reform as much or more than the Party's growing fears that unless they push for it there will continue to be rising social unrest.