My favorite malatang place closed a few days ago so all the staff could go home; about 50% of the emails I send out to people working in mainland China have been bouncing back since last Thursday with vacation messages; no business meetings have been held or scheduled since last Wednesday; and half my office is empty as colleagues have also gone back to their hometowns.

Not much is happening, so here is a piece published today from our ChinaCSR.com (Chinese version can be found at chinacsr.com/cn/), "Year Of The Rat: Rodent Attributes For China Businesses", which says:

The Year of the Rat — in Western society a rat can connote unruly or dishonest business behavior, but in China the rat is seen as a catalyst for prosperity and a symbol of leadership. So with the Year of the Rat upon us, now is a good time to see how the attributes of the rat can best be applied to businesses in China.