WIC Template

1 Talking Point 4 Week in 60 Seconds Week in China 5 Banking and Finance 7 Energy and Resources 9 Corporate Q&A 13 China Consumer 14 Society and Culture 8 February 2013 17 And Finally Issue 181 18 The Back Page www.weekinchina.com Beware the Year of the Snake? m o c . n i e t s p e a t i n e b . w w w

The Year of the Snake begins this weekend – how do the

Chinese view this reptilian zodiac sign? Brought to you by Week in China Talking Point 8 February 2013

Venomous times ahead? WiC’s preview of the Year of the Snake, which starts on Sunday

Those born in the Year of the Snake are viewed as charming and lucky, though also prone to scheming

n the Harry Potter series, the only refer to it is as a little dragon, itself Snake. So too were Abra ham Lincoln Ithing likely to frighten 10 year- considered an auspicious creature and Mao Zedong. Oprah Winfrey is old readers more than Lord Volde - (notably snake soup is considered also one (and so are you if you were mort’s veiny skull is his malevolent very healthy in China). born in 1953, 1965 and 1977 or any pet serpent Nagini. So as the Year of the Snake ap - year twelve before or after). Like her master, Nagini is deadly proaches – the Lunar New Year starts But for those born in the Year of and the scene in Harry Potter and on February 10 – what might it hold the Snake, events this year could be the Deathly Hallows in which in store? Will the snake see the inauspicious. That’s because being Severus Snape perishes on her ven - global economy slither further into born under the same sign as the omous fangs will only reinforce the recovery or will there be a sudden cycle year brings the risk of offend - fear of snakes common to children withering in financial fortunes? ing the ‘Heavenly God’. So Snakes and adults alike. should “stay positive and always While the hissing reptile is often First, who are some of the most fa - keep a good intention,” Hong Kong regarded as a symbol of evil in mous Snakes? Economic Times suggests. many parts of the world, snakes can People born in the Year of the Snake For Xi, it will likely be a challeng - actually be auspicious in Chinese are said to be lucky and insightful. ing year ahead. Snake years are often P h o t

o culture. In part that’s because a And although their characteristics marked by major transformations

S o u r snake can coil itself into the figure can include a scheming mind, they and sometimes great upheaval. The c e :

R e eight, which is considered to be a are usually charming and likeable. Russian Revolution (1917), the Great u t e r s lucky number. The Chinese also China’s new president Xi Jinping is a Depression (1929) and the Septem - 1

Week in China Talking Point 8 February 2013

What do they have in common? They were all born in the Year of the Snake

ber 11 attacks (2001) all took place those that work in government. TV viewers. No doubt she’ll be during the Year of the Snake. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo planning to sell quite a few Great - Perhaps that’s why Xi looks to be Abe, a Horse, must be happy to hear est Hits albums in China as a re - going out of his way to present a it. Perhaps he could use his good sult of all the publicity. new image to the public. For in - fortune to mend fences with Bei - stance, he’s taken a tougher public jing over the conflict in the East Who needs to watch out? stance on corruption and official ex - China Sea. Keep your heads down those of you travagance – two issues that have Similarly, Hong Kong’s new chief who are born in the Year of the Goat provoked public anger. On an offi - executive CY Leung – also a Horse – (1955, 1967, 1979). According to news - cial tour to Shenzhen in December, could use a bit of luck this year, as paper Lianhe Wanbao, “all the lucky he avoided the usual banquets and his popularity in the city continues stars are missing” but Goats can im - fanfare, opting for a more frugal and to slip. prove the fortune by “doing more low-key approach. Already head of Next magazine says that Mon - charity work”. the Party and the military, Xi will be keys (1956, 1968, 1980) will also have Bill Gates, a Goat, will be relieved consolidate his position when he as - a good year, especially by finding that he has made a decent head start. sumes the presidency from Hu Jin - “helpful friends that will give them Pigs (1959, 1971, 1983) will also tao next month. a boost when it comes to career ad - have to be careful this year, as it’s an - vancement”. That sounds positive other of the zodiac signs likely to of - So who will prosper in the Year of for Celine Dion, a Monkey, who will fend the presiding god. the Snake? be hoping to start the year strongly In fact Wang Hua, another feng For those born in the Year of the Rat by singing on CCTV’s Spring Festi - shui master, says those born in the (such as 1960, 1972, 1984, or any year val Gala on Saturday evening in the Year of Pig are likely to be the un - 12 before or after), the stars are countdown to the start of the Lunar luckiest of all this year. Lance Arm - aligned this year. Rats and snakes New Year. strong, a Pig, should probably delay are notoriously good friends ac - Dion is easily the most high- his plans for a comeback. cording to the Chinese zodiac, and profile international performer to as a result, the Year of the Snake appear at the event. No surprise, Learning from hiss-story… should be a good one for its rodent either, that her repertoire for the Many feng shui masters believe that friends, says feng shui practitioner evening will include My Heart Will the Year of the Snake will be less tu - Li Chengze. Go On . But the audience is likely multuous than last year’s Dragon That’s good news for Vice Pre - to get even more excited when year. Snakes are generally referred mier Wang Qishan, a Rat, who was Dion sings a Chinese song. Ac - to as having a more feminine mind - selected to be the new anti-graft tsar cording to the China Daily, the set, including a calmer mood. But P h o t

o (see WiC176). diva has spent hours rehearsing this particular Year of the Snake is

S o u r Hong Kong Commercial Times the folk ballad Mo Li Hua (Jasmine also associated with water, one of c e :

R e reckons that Horses (1954, 1966, Flower) in order to impress an es - the five traditional Chinese ele - u t e r s

1978) are in luck too, especially timated audience of 700 million ments. And a ‘water snake’ year is 2 Week in China Talking Point 8 February 2013

Also born in the Year of the Snake: Mao Zedong and China’s current leader Xi Jinping

supposedly marked by greater peace property, the Year of the Snake could snake-themed products into their and quiet. be a good time to get into the mar - latest collections to attract Chinese It also means that industries re - ket. Yet another feng shui consultant shoppers. For instance, a huge illu - lated to water can hope to do well, Mak Ling-ling told Hong Kong Daily minated snake adorns the exterior such as gaming (because of water’s News that China’s property market of jewellery brand Bulgari’s Fifth association with money in Chinese will be buoyant in the first three Avenue store in New York, where wisdom) and logistics (this one is a quarters of the year but may face the luxury label is also offering a more practical: good for shipping “headwinds from government in - necklace shaped like a serpent firms). Companies linked to metal tervention” in the final quarter. against a backdrop of pavé diamond (including finance) could also have But stay out of the stock market, and emeralds. An all-diamond ver - a decent year. which will snake up and down, ad - sion of the necklace was sold the However, industries associated vises Mak. Nor does it bode well that day it arrived in the store despite with the elements of earth and fire, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index has the $1.34 million price tag. such as construction, oil and gas dropped in four out of the last five Harrods in London is selling its should batten down the hatches. Snake years. own snake-emblazoned gold bul - And also keep a close watch for lion bars, weighing from 5 to 100 scandals and accounting fraud: And to splurge? grams and selling from $320 to “The Snake seldom smiles and Luxury goods firms are already $5,700 each. Last year was the first therefore it is going to be a sad year gearing up for the millions of Chi - time the store offered the gold bars, with tears,” warns Lynn Yap, a feng nese who will be travelling and which were met with “strong de - shui practitioner in Singapore. shopping over the week-long holi - mand,” a spokesman told the Wall For those considering buying day ahead. Many have incorporated Street Journal. n

Planet China Strange but true stories from the new China P h o t o

S o u r c e :

R e “Would the emperor like a banana?” u t e r s

3 Week in China The Week in 60 Seconds 8 February 2013

Foxconn to hold elections The major news items from China this week were...

Japan said on Tuesday that a Chinese military vessel 1trained a radar used to direct weapons on a Japanese naval vessel near disputed islands in the East China Sea. The Japanese Defence Ministry also said that a Chi - nese frigate directed the same kind of radar at one of Japan’s military helicopters in a previously undis - closed incident in mid-January. The Chinese ships eventually turned off the radar without firing, but Japan’s defence minister warned that such actions risked the dispute over the islands veering into a larger confrontation.

China’s State Council announced that it will ratchet 2up national fuel standards to levels similar to those Soon to be able to vote: Foxconn staff currently found in the US and Europe by the end of 2017 in an effort to solve the nation’s mounting pollution Xinhua reported on Tuesday that authorities in problems. In the meantime, Chinese officials said they 4Shaanxi province had detained Gong Ai’ai, a for - will publish new automotive diesel standards as soon as mer executive at a local government-backed bank, for possible that will slash sulfur emissions to about one- forging official documents to obtain fake identities in seventh of current permitted levels (see page 7). order to purchase multiple properties. State broad - caster CCTV reported that Gong owns 45 properties China has pledged to increase minimum wages and around the country. Under current restrictions, some 3force state-owned companies to hand over more of Chinese cities place limits on purchases of more than their revenues to the public purse as part of a push to one home. tackle growing inequality. The State Council said it wanted to lift as many as 80 million people from Foxconn will allow its 1.2 million workers to vote for poverty by 2015. It also pledged to raise minimum wages 5what it says will be a genuinely representative to 40% of average salaries, boost spending on education union, said the Financial Times. Foxconn’s employees and public housing, and force state-owned companies will elect their representatives by 2014. Analysts say to pay out an additional five percentage points of their the move also aims to improve the company’s image, revenues in dividends to the government by 2015. tarnished by a spate of suicides at Foxconn factories in 2010, and by allegations of poor conditions and of em - ploying underage workers.

SABMiller the world’s second-largest brewer by sales, 6has agreed to pay $864 million in cash to acquire Guangdong-based Kingway Brewery. The acquisition – by SAB’s China JV – will give it access to Kingway’s seven breweries, some of which are located in China’s most P h o t

o rapidly developing provinces. According to the brewing

S o u r giant, China accounted for 43% of the total growth in c e :

R e global beer volumes in 2011, but SAB’s China business ac - u t e r s Which would you rather have? counts for about 2% of its total earnings. n 4 Week in China Banking and Finance 8 February 2013

Far flung Galaxy Hong Kong, not Shanghai, for broker’s IPO

t more than 13 billion light assets held by brokerages have de - Ayears from earth, scientists in clined by 9% due to customers los - California say they have just discov - ing interest in domestic stocks. By ered the most distant galaxy yet, contrast, over the same period trust thanks to the Hubble Space Tele - companies have increased their as - scope in California. sets under management more than Heading south Somewhat nearer to home is five-fold, by offering high yielding news that one of China’s leading wealth management products (see margin financing and wider scope brokerages, Galaxy Securities, has WiC177 for more on these). for brokers to develop their own as - dropped its previous plan for a So the immediate impression is set management products. Shanghai listing. Instead it will pitch that Galaxy’s management doesn’t HSBC also expects to see more its investment story to fund man - expect to see much sign of life in brokerages expanding into wealth agers a mere 760 miles to the south - China’s IPO market for the foresee - management, adding Rmb15 billion west, in Hong Kong. able future (see WiC179 for how the in extra revenue to the sector by Despite its original intention for same trend is hurting Chinese pri - 2015. With policymakers keen to re - a simultaneous listing in the two vate equity too). Instead the plan is to duce the dominance of the banks, cities, Galaxy will now pursue an follow in the footsteps of Citic Secu - brokerages look like getting a bigger IPO in Hong Kong alone, probably in rities and Haitong, two Chinese bro - role in diversifying risk across a May, reports 21CN Business Herald. kers which listed in Hong Kong wider range of financial institutions. Insurance giant PICC did something (Galaxy hoped to raise $1.9 billion Still, whether the trend strengthens similar last September, dropping but its IPO will likely be smaller the investment case for the Galaxy plans for a dual listing with Shang - without the Shanghai portion) . IPO must be debatable. Fund man - hai and WiC has also written re - Like most of its peers, Galaxy has agers will be poring over the risks cently about property developer been suffering from sharp declines inherent in the push into wealth Vanke, migrating its Shenzhen B- in brokerage and underwriting in - management products, in deciding shares to Hong Kong (see WiC178). come. So why list now? With more whether to back the offering. So what does it say for the than a hundred brokers active, a pe - The concern? Simon Rabinovitch prospects for Chinese IPOs when the riod of consolidation looks possible, of the Financial Times was already country’s third largest brokerage by although HSBC says that this isn’t go - warning last week that brokerages turnover (and the biggest in branch ing to happen quickly. That’s because have raced into shadow financing, numbers) can’t be bothered to wait regulations prevent ownership of and that they now manage almost any longer for a China listing? multiple brokerages, and many firms Rmb2 trillion ($320 billion) of en - Galaxy even counts Central Huijin, are owned by local governments, trusted funds passed on by the the state-owned investment fund, which won’t want to sell. Instead, banks, up seven-fold over last year. as a key shareholder. Apparently, Galaxy may want to position itself The fear is that the credit prob - even this wasn’t enough to jump the for longer-term trends that HSBC lems being circulated around stalled IPO queue (see WiC177). expects to favour the industry, in - China’s shadow banking sector will Galaxy’s flotation also comes af - cluding higher incomes and an age - lead to a blow-up sooner or later. ter “five lost years” for the Chinese ing population. In the shorter term, Brokerages could then be left hold - P h o t o broking industry, according to re - there are also new policy priorities ing some of the losses.

S o u r c search published recently by York from the China Securities Regula - “It’s something that people e :

I m

a Pun and Todd Dunivant at HSBC. tory Commission (CSRC) that should should pay attention to. But it’s not g i n e

C Since the peaking of the A-share benefit brokerages, like more re - alarming yet,” an unnamed analyst h i n a market in Shanghai in 2007, total laxed capital rules, greater access to told the Financial Times. n 5 Week in China Banking and Finance 8 February 2013

Taking a swipe Banks hit by cuts in card fees

nternet entrepreneur Jack Ma which had transactions worth aggregate saving of Rmb4 billion Ihas long been critical of how Chi - Rmb5.9 trillion ($947 billion) in 2011. a year. nese banks are unwilling to lend to Furthermore, the trading venture Ye Changqing, manager of small companies. Speaking five should help improve the bank’s own Yonghui Supermarket, told Interna - years ago at a business forum, the credit database. tional Business Daily that the origi - founder of the Alibaba Group is - CCB is not alone in its e-com - nal swipe rate for sales at his com - sued a challenge to the financial merce ambitions. Bank of Commu - pany amounted to the banks getting system. “If banks don’t change, we nications has also opened its own annual fees worth more than will change banks,” he proclaimed. online mall and Bank of China and Rmb30 million, which accounted for Ma looks to have changed the China Minsheng Bank are said to be nearly 10% of the firm’s net profit. strategy of at least one bank – al - looking at going into e-commerce. Policymakers are hoping that though not in a way he may have Differing from pure e-commerce merchants will pass on some of the wished. The Financial Times re - platforms like Alibaba and 360buy, savings in the lower charges to ports that one of the country’s CCB doesn’t charge rent, commis - consumers. Lower prices, it is largest lenders has entered Ma’s sion or advertising fees for stores on hoped, should then stimulate more turf. In a move that the FT equates its online platform. Instead the goal spending, which will be good for to HSBC taking on Amazon, China is to profit from services to cus - retailers’ profits. Construction Bank (CCB) has tomers, including hire purchase But the reduction in revenues for launched an online shopping plat - arrangements, online loans and se - banks – because of lower card fees – form, buy.ccb.com. cured transactions, says 21CN Busi - will be relatively small compared to The venture originates from a ness Herald. the prospective impact of the gov - parting of ways between Alibaba The move from finance to on - ernment’s longer-term plan to lib - and CCB on AliLoan: a lending line shopping might seem coun - eralise interest rates. Premier Wen Ji - scheme in which Alibaba used its terintuitive, but it also makes abao recently reaffirmed Beijing’s customer database to build credit more sense in the context of an plans to move to market-based in - histories for small businesses, increasingly competitive industry terest rates during a recent visit to whom CCB then lent to. in which the banks are gradually the central bank, reports Reuters. According to reports in the Eco - losing the government support Last year, the government took a nomic Observer, the cooperation that has bolstered their profitabil - significant step in this direction, ended because Alibaba also wanted ity for years. when it gave the banks more flexi - to take a cut on the interest earned “Competition is very severe now bility to decide on the rates charged from bank loans. But CCB demurred, for Chinese banks, and information to borrowers, as long as they remain feeling that it would be easier for about clients is the key for their within a defined range (see WiC163). banks to establish e-commerce busi - competitiveness,” an analyst told As we wrote at the time, the banks nesses than for platforms like Al - the FT. have been trying to defend their ibaba to get into the banking sector. The most recent policy measure cushy net interest margins (the dif - The arrangement expired in 2011, to hit industry profits is a reduction ference between the rate at which leaving CCB to make its own way on in fees for card transactions. F ees they lend out money, and the rate the internet. If successful, the bene - charged from merchants for card they pay depositors). But longer fits could be twofold. By selling di - payments in restaurants, super - term, fully liberalised rates – which rectly to the consumer, the bank markets and department stores will spur competition between could take a slice of China’s rapidly will be reduced at the end of Feb - lenders – should see net interest growing online shopping industry, ruary, says Xinhuanet.com, for an margins shrink rather than grow. n 6 Week in China Energy and Resources 8 February 2013

Fuelling the debate Public backlash as Sinopec blamed for nation’s foul air

avid Letterman is famous for his D‘top 10’ lists, which he reads out on his nightly talk show. Chinese fi - nancial news website Eastmoney re - cently put together an unusual top 10 list of its own, this time ranking Sinopec’s 10 worst scandals. Regular readers of WiC will recall many of these transgressions: the Rmb12 million ($1.92 million) chan - delier purchased for corporate HQ, the Guangdong general manager’s $396,400 bill for Chateau Lafite and Moutai, and the strange discovery that the firm had built a luxury ho - tel for its top staff (see issues 26, 103 and 109 respectively). In the biggest scandal of all, the firm’s former Upgrade overdue? An oil refinery in Gansu boss, Chen Tonghai, was jailed for corruption in 2009. debate about the uneven application fuel standards are defined. Yue Xin, We imagine the PR folk at the oil of fuel quality rules around the a member of the committee that giant don’t have too many dull days country – and the vested interest of sets the rules, posted on his weibo at work. Indeed, it’s hard to think of the oil firms in delaying a more uni - that the large majority of the com - a firm in China that attracts more form standard. mittee’s members work for oil com - flak than Sinopec. Currently only Beijing uses na - panies, while the secretariat’s offices And so it was a case of ‘once more tional emission standard 5 (equiva - are located at Sinopec’s headquar - into the breach’, when its current lent to the European cap, which bars ters, according to Xinhua. chairman spoke to China National sulphur content above 10 parts per Reuters says that the oil firms Radio recently. Fu Chengyu went on million). Shanghai, Jiangsu and Zhe - have been locked in a struggle with air after netizens had blamed jiang have all adopted national the environment ministry over fuel Sinopec’s fuel for the recent smogs standard 4 (50 ppm or below) but content for years, culminating in a which blanketed many of the coun - the remainder of the country still fractious meeting in late 2011 in try’s cities (see WiC178). gets by with standard 3, which al - which the majors were told that Don’t blame our product, Fu hit lows sulphur content to be as high they could no longer delay the im - back. Blame the low fuel standards. as 150 ppm. plementation of cleaner fuel for The side-stepping didn’t win over As the domestic media has been trucks and buses. too many of Sinopec’s critics, al - highlighting, this means that many Trucks account for almost one though Fu wasn’t alone in taking vehicles in China are emitting sul - quarter of China’s vehicles but are this line. CNPC, parent company of phurous fumes 15 times more dan - said to spew out almost 80% of ve - PetroChina and another major oil gerous than those in Europe. hicle particulate matter. P h o t

o refiner, also defended itself in the Fu’s line of defence roused an in - Just over a year ago the two firms

S o u r press by saying that its own fuel dignant response online, especially reportedly agreed to introduce c e :

R e meets existing emission standards. when it became clearer that Sinopec cleaner fuel. But spot checks in Bei - u t e r s But the remarks have rekindled has an influential say in how the jing showed that older, dirtier fuel 7 Week in China Energy and Resources 8 February 2013

was still being sold long after the to deliver a greater share of cleaner promised deadline, according to fuel. “At present most of the do - Keeping track Tang Dagang, a director of the Vehi - mestic large refineries have the abil - cle Emission Control Centre, which ity to produce gasoline at the na - In WiC178, we speculated that a new is linked to the ministry. tional 4 emission standard. The search engine tie-up with Qihoo might Perhaps that explains why Bei - fundamental reason [for delay] is mark the early stages of a new Google jing’s air continues to be awful, de - that the enhanced desulphurisation strategy to return to the China search spite the effort to introduce the process will add to costs,” the in - market. The hypothesis was that Google was helping Qihoo in order to contain its new rules. sider suggested. main rival in China, Baidu. Might that But planners also say that air Cleaner fuel will also cost mo - even signal that Google was also quality isn’t improving as much as torists more, and prices at the pump considering a return to the Chinese hoped because of the number of ve - went up in Beijing and Shanghai search market? hicles that come into Beijing from when the two cities switched to If so, someone needs to tell Google chairman Eric Schmidt that slamming outside the city using dirtier diesel. higher standards previously. China as the world’s “most sophisticated Hence a national standard is des - Experts also say that CNPC and and prolific hacker” probably isn’t going perately required. Sinopec both need to be given more to help with the plan. Certainly, criticism of the slow incentive to bear the cost of making Schmidt’s comments were widely progress on fuel quality does seem cleaner fuel, primarily through the trailed in reviews of his latest book The New Digital Age (which WiC is yet to to be spreading to sections of the approval of higher retail margins by read). But the Chinese authorities aren’t Chinese press. Under pressure, the central government. likely to be impressed with his thoughts Sinopec said in a follow-up state - “I’m an environmentalist and I on the future of the web in China, nor the ment last weekend that it will be in - also hate the actions of CNPC and assertion shared with co-author Jared Cohen that the internet will come back vesting further in desulphurisation Sinopec,” Jiang Kejun, research pro - to haunt them. “This mix of active facilities in 12 refineries to produce fessor at the NDRC’s Energy Re - citizens armed with technological devices diesel that meets national standard search Institute, told Reuters. “But and tight government control 4 for emissions. we have to tell the public: energy is exceptionally volatile,” the authors But it added that it would take prices will rise significantly. Low en - supposedly warn, suggesting that China will see “some kind of revolution in the two years to complete this process, ergy prices and fresh air, there’s no coming decades.” with the cleaner fuel not available way you can have both.” until the end of 2014, reported On Wednesday the central gov - China Petrochemical News. ernment also weighed in on the is - standard 5, i.e. putting China on a That will be a further frustration sue. The message: we’re going to par with the Europeans. for the environmental activists who solve the problem, but not immedi - For shareholders at the oil majors complain that the same standard ately. The State Council says it has this presages a period of uncer - was due to be implemented two ordered Sinopec and CNPC to up - tainty. The upgrade costs will hit years ago but has been twice de - grade their refineries to produce short-term profits. Meanwhile the layed. An industry source also told standard 4 diesel nationwide by the timing and scale of any offsetting 21CN Business Herald that the oil end of next year. By 2017 there will fuel price hikes are yet to be an - companies already have the means be a further national upgrade to nounced. n

Your China website www.weekinchina.com

Week in China

8 Week in China Corporate Q&A 8 February 2013

China’s Mittelstand man Why have German firms been so successful in China? Jürgen Kracht explains

ürgen Kracht’s first visit to China Jwas in 1972, when he attended the Canton Fair. He recalls it was like “entering another world”. It was a time when the red songs and Maoist movies still dominated and the word capitalism only entered conversations in a purely deroga - tory sense. In the ensuing decades he has witnessed profound changes in China. In 1982 Kracht founded Fidu - cia, a consultancy that helps Euro - pean firms – predominantly from German-speaking countries – to es - tablish and run business operations in Hong Kong and China. It’s a role that put Kracht, the German busi - nessman, in a unique position to ob - serve one of the world’s most pro - found industrial revolutions: the growth of the modern Chinese econ - omy. This is exemplified by the fact that China’s foreign trade has grown massively. Germany has been a ma - jor beneficiary: nearly half of all EU exports to China come from it. Here Kracht – who is Fiducia’s chairman – discusses his experi - ences in China and why German manufacturing firms have proven so successful in the country.

How did you get started? Kracht: made first trip to China in 1972 I arrived in Hong Kong in 1971 to work with Jebsen, a trading house tomers, who bought products from interest overseas in China trade. For that represented big European com - China like intestines to make example, in 1982 BASF established panies like BASF and I initially sold sausages or feathers for duvets. its own company in Hong Kong and dyes and other products. Transactions would occur at the their first representative offices in Back then China was a closed twice yearly Canton Fair and my China. That was the start of a major country, but there was limited China trips there were my first experi - trend. trade through Hong Kong. Jebsen ences of doing business in China. In the same year, I opened Fiducia sold machinery and chemicals to In the early eighties as a result of with the goal of helping foreign China. And they had European cus - China’s opening I noted a growing companies to access the Greater 9 Week in China Corporate Q&A 8 February 2013

China market, i.e. Taiwan, Hong Kong and increasingly China. Typical assignments were search - ing for customers and suppliers and negotiation support. Much of our work was to bridge the cultural dif - ferences and to illustrate this, I al - ways open a meeting with: “The dis - tance from Beijing to Guangzhou is the same as from Copenhagen to Palermo. So do not think of China as one market. It is a multitude of mar - kets. Also a Cantonese person is very different from a Beijing person.” By the late eighties there was a greater interest in operating in China itself, so we opened offices in Guten tag, Sichuan: Kracht (right) on a trip to Chengdu in January 1985 Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen. We provided European firms trade and will among the Chinese. country’s Mittelstand – the thou - investment advice and hands-on German multinationals were quite sands of small and medium-sized support, such as company incorpo - smart in staffing: rather than sending industrial firms that are the heart of ration and book keeping. people from Germany directly, the the German economy. There is a A key issue was to help clients to company posted executives who growing awareness in Beijing that navigate the challenges. For exam - worked in places like Moscow or the backbone of a healthy industry ple, we had a German client who Jakarta – i.e. they knew how to oper - is not the massive companies but wanted to employ the son of the ate in challenging markets. the family companies like those of owner of a Chinese restaurant in German firms’ success is traced the Mittelstand . In fact, the Chinese Stuttgart to be general manager for back to their approach, patient at - government views the German eco - their Shanghai office. I didn’t say titude, and the willingness to wait nomic structure as a model. they were crazy, but I did say it for results. I understand that the Economics would not work because whilst the German politicians were sup - Department of the Chinese Embassy candidate is native Chinese he has portive of these pioneers too. For ex - in Berlin mirrors the structure of the never been to China! ample, Helmut Schmidt [former German manufacturing industry. chancellor of Germany] visited Their task is to observe and under - Which were the first German com - China every year and formed very stand how German companies tick, panies to set up in China? good relations with Deng Xiaoping particularly the Mittelstand . Volkswagen was a pioneer with a and Jiang Zemin. A big part of our business is ad - joint venture in 1984. At that time vising those Mittelstand manufac - no other foreign firm wanted to Do Chinese have a positive percep - turing companies. They are not shy build a car factory in China. In the tion of German companies? about going to China, but value our final meeting with the top leaders, I think German firms are viewed as support and advice. it asked to raise the import duties a reliable business partner because on cars to 100% which was of their actions. Their word is their So there’s been a big expansion in granted. Thus, Volkswagen had a word, a handshake is a handshake. Mittelstand firms entering China? head start. Chinese know that German goods Yes, the big expansion of compa - It then shipped its Santana fac - are more expensive but they recog - nies opening Chinese factories was tory from Brazil, box by box. In fact, nise that they are of high quality between 2000 and 2010 after China when the equipment was removed and reliable. That image is strongly permitted subsidiary companies from the crates in Shanghai, they embedded in China. besides joint ventures. As an exam - decided not to waste anything – One of the chief reasons for Ger - ple, the city of Taicang in Jiangsu they built desks out of the crates, many’s success in China is the province today houses 120 German even for the German managers. strength of its manufacturing. A big companies mostly from the Such moves created a lot of the good part of that comes down to the Stuttgart area. They are all Mittel - 10 Week in China Corporate Q&A 8 February 2013

Little Germany: 120 German manufacturing firms have based themselves in the city of Taicang

stand manufacturing firms, and three months time.” same in China too. they all know each other from The multinationals have been a home. The companies agreed not Are there other cities where Ger - key pull factor for some Mittelstand to poach each others’ staff; also man companies have clustered? companies to China, since they are they have set up an apprentice Yes, there are several – for example their trusted suppliers in Germany. scheme just like back home. All in Qingdao where around 100 German It works well for both sides, because all, this is a successful model in the manufacturing firms operate. We they have a long history of working challenging China environment. have a client there that makes med - together which facilitates product ical disposables. It has 2,000 staff development and ensures quality. Why did so many German firms and an impressive factory. Actually, there’s now a Lufthansa cluster around Taicang? Today you have to be careful in flight from Frankfurt to Qingdao Former Prime Minister Spaeth which city or area you locate a fac - and on to Shenyang. That tells you from the state of Baden-Württem - tory. The key issues are the cost how many German firms are in berg wanted to open a ‘German’ structure, staff availability and in - those cities. manufacturing hub in their part - frastructure. In Shanghai the staff ner province Jiangsu. I was part of turnover is about 20-30% per an - So there’s almost a convoy effect: the visiting delegation travelling to num, in Qingdao it is maybe 6%. the big firms leading the small to Suzhou. The government official in Another city where there is a big China? charge of attracting investment into German presence is Shenyang. Yes. We are currently working with a Taicang – his name was Elvis – saw There are around 200 companies Mittelstand company which is open - an opportunity to pull in German there. But even in Shenyang it is a ing a subsidiary in China, their first investors and granted generous in - challenge today to attract workers operation abroad. It makes air filter vestment terms. For the opening because other industries are more systems for factories – to get rid of party of some factories, German TV attractive employers. the dirty toxic air from paints and was invited, resulting in positive such like. publicity back home. Of these, the biggest German firm Back home it’s a small family- Taicang officials then did semi - in Shenyang is BMW... owned firm, which developed a nars in Germany and began to get That’s correct. And that’s been a big smart technology to clean the air in really good at figuring out how Mit - success story too. factories without having to ex - P h o t o telstand companies think and work. The BMWs made in Shenyang to - change the air. This is cost-effective

S o u r c For example, Elvis developed a one- day are of an impressive quality. and environmentally-friendly. Why e :

I m

a chop policy. He said: “Come to me One client of ours from Stuttgart China? It is because of the demand g i n e

C and I do all the licences for you, and manufactures leather for BMW car from its major German clients and h i n a so the company will be ready in seats in Germany, and does the enquiries from Chinese companies. 11 Week in China Corporate Q&A 8 February 2013

Are German companies not wor - ried their technology will be stolen? Yes. But one proven approach is to have core elements, which have sensitive intellectual property, still made in Germany, and the re - maining components are pur - chased locally. Actually the key issue today is the growing competition from Chinese firms who are quite good today. Until 2005, no German firm even spent one second thinking about Chinese competition. Then sud - denly overnight this changed. That was quite an experience for our clients. They were manufacturing in China and the only competition German Mittelstand firms have moved to Shenyang to be near BMW they had was another foreign firm. Then a former staff member or a tomated manufacturing process. China by developing products “de - fast-growing Chinese company be - And it wouldn’t just be a question signed in China and made in China”. came their competitors, and price- of copying their technology, since In essence, these are “good enough” wise they were cheaper. the firm is constantly innovating – products which are sold, for exam - On the whole I don’t view Chi - both its products and its manufac - ple, in western China, sometimes as nese competition as a problem. It turing process. a dual brand. This was certainly a has led German firms to reinvent So on the question of being major change in philosophy. themselves. For example, a strong copied, I take the view that you have Siemens is a case in point with industry structure has been devel - to be innovative. You can’t stand their [China-designed] CT scanner oped around Shanghai with Chinese still. You can’t sell yesterday’s ma - machines which have proven to be suppliers, who employ German en - chinery in China. successful and are now also ex - gineers, making components just ported to Brazil and India. for German companies. This helped Is it getting tougher or easier for our clients to cut costs and to be - German firms to make money in Any final observations? come more flexible. China? Over the years, everything has Our sweet spot is advising manu - The answer is both. It is getting eas - changed in China, except the dis - facturing firms, mainly from Ger - ier because the market size is in - tance and the cultural differences many, but we also have clients from creasing and so is the potential cus - within the country. Austria and Switzerland (as well as tomer size. For me, it is always useful to re - some other European countries). But it’s also getting tougher be - member Deng Xiaoping’s saying: The other day I was having a discus - cause of competition. A client of “Learn to seek truth from facts”. sion about Chinese competition ours said: “You know, we have cer - One of the things I have found with an Austrian client who manu - tain competition in the US, and cer - interesting is watching how oper - factures sophisticated car compo - tain competition in Europe. But in ating in China changes German nents and has a factory in Dalian. China we compete against every - companies. For example, a century- In its case, the firm believes it body from around the world and on old family firm today makes bold would be hard for a Chinese firm top of that we face Chinese com - strategy decisions it would not to become a competitor. The rea - petitors who have the advantage of have dreamt of just a couple of sons being: the need for joint de - being local.” years before. P h o t

o velopment of new products with Some German companies have China’s huge market will con -

S o u r the car company (which takes reacted to the increased competi - tinue to be attractive but challeng - c e :

R e about four years), their state-of-the- tion and to the fact that buying ing over the next 10 to 20 years, and u t e r s art technology and the highly au - power is markedly different within that is going to be fascinating. n 12 Week in China China Consumer 8 February 2013

Store wars Expect consolidation among China’s struggling department stores

visitor to Beijing in the 1970s acquisitions. It made a start by Awould have had only one buying a Shanghai shopping mall choice for higher-end shopping – from private equity firm Black - the Beijing Friendship Store. For stone Group. years it was the mainstay for The need for scale has become those looking for international more pressing as more shoppers goods in the capital. Catering to turn to the internet to meet their overseas residents and tourists, it spending fix. “If traditional de - was the only place where foreign partment stores do not make any food and wine could be found. changes to their business models, Ordinary Chinese were kept out. they will face a survival crisis The Friendship Store still lum - within five years,” Chen Song - bers on today, albeit in a slightly Wangfujing: on a buying spree hong, head of DTZ’s retail services in more modernised form. But s uch is China, told the Global Times. the competition between depart - stores in total across the country. By Chen said that some stores are ment stores that Shanghai Securities buying PCD, it will add another 18 also looking to combine their bricks- News says the industry “has entered upmarket stores to its portfolio. and-mortar operations with online the era of Warring States,” referring Despite the continued growth in shopping, copying models that have to a bloody period in Chinese his - Chinese consumer spending, many worked in the US in which cus - tory when rival regions fought to ab - department store operators are tomers order online but come to the sorb their neighbours. struggling. No one company cur - shop to pick up their goods. There were further signs of the rently has the scale to build a domi - The other source of competi - consolidation trend last week, when nant platform across China, leaving tion comes not from within China store operator Beijing Wangfujing smaller players to battle it out in but from abroad, as middle-class International Commercial Develop - crowded markets. shoppers make overseas shopping ment launched a takeover bid to ac - PCD typifies the weakness in the trips in increasingly large num - quire rival store owner PCD Stores. sector. Last month, it issued a profit bers. The cost of a trip to Hong The acquirer plans to buy a 39.53% warning, saying that its net income Kong or London can easily be off - stake in the Hong Kong-listed target would “record a notable decrease” set by the saving made on luxury for HK$1.99 billion ($257.49 million), due to rising employment costs and goods not subject to import taxes which could then trigger a general increased expenses from opening similar to China’s. offer for the stock, Reuters reports. new stores. Intime, another depart - Just after Christmas, British The bid was good news for share - ment store chain (see WiC69), an - newspaper the Daily Mail reported holders in PCD, with the company’s nounced last month that profit for on one such example: a 59 year-old stock jumping more than 9% after 2012 was set to fall 40%. university lecturer from Sichuan the deal was announced. The retailer In the current environment the who had just bought a Prada ‘man listed in late 2010 has since lost more successful and financially bag’ in central London. nearly half of its value. strong operators are in a better po - His reasons for visiting the UK Wangfujing, named after the fa - sition to take over their weaker ri - were exactly what department P h o mous shopping street in Beijing, is vals. For instance, last year the Hong stores in Beijing won’t want to hear. t o

S o u the parent company of the depart - Kong Economic Times reported that “These quality brand and luxury r c e :

S ment stores that bear the same New World Department Store, which goods are cheaper here in the UK h u t t e r name. It also has the biggest net - has 18 stores in China, had an - than they are at home, and the s t o c k

work in the capital, with around 30 nounced plans to expand through choice is much better.” n 13 Week in China Society and Culture 8 February 2013

Child drama One-child policy inspires hit new TV show

“Okay, now what do we do?”: the stars of Hunan Satellite TV’s drama Xiaoer Nanyang

hina’s one-child policy, first im - the challenge of growing up. Jian say they are ready to start their Cplemented in 1980, has long First, there is Jiang Xin, an airline own family but in many aspects of been criticised as an impediment to employee who is pleasant but un - their lives they prove incapable of growth and the harbinger of social ambitious. His career-minded wife surviving on their own, relying on problems. In addition to a skewed Jian Ning excels at work but is hope - their parents for help. gender ratio – with men far out - less when it comes to looking after Directed by screenwriter Cao Dun, numbering women – China’s only- their newborn child. Meanwhile, the series has some great lines. In one child generation is also Jiang’s best friend Wu Di spends all episode, Jiang Xin tells Wu Di: “Peo - characterised as pampered and un - his money collecting cameras but ple always say marriage is the grave accustomed to hardship. struggles to make ends meet. of love. To be honest, I don’t believe If China’s latest hit show is any - The show strikes a chord with that. But I don’t believe marriage is thing to go by, many thirty-some - viewers because it taps into the col - the paradise of love, either. But after thing products of the policy are still lective psyche of China’s post-1980s you have kids, what is marriage? At dealing with the growing pains of generation, says Tencent Entertain - its best, marriage is life. At its worst, adulthood. ment. While on the surface the char - marriage is a direct way to hell.” Xiaoer Nanyang (which roughly acters tease one another and bicker, There are financial implications, translates as ‘babies are difficult to it also deals with more serious prob - too. In the traditional Chinese fam - raise’) is a drama about the post- lems. Social critics have long argued ily, children, especially sons, look P h o t

o 1980s generation in Shanghai. De - that China’s only-children are self- after their parents. But with many

S o u r buting in January on Hunan Satellite centred and give up too easily in the offspring still relying on their par - c e :

R e TV, it follows various characters, all face of challenges and the TV series ents for financial support, the show u t e r s of whom seem to be struggling with seems to suggest so too. Jiang and suggests Jiang’s mother and father 14 Week in China Society and Culture 8 February 2013

are going to need their state pen - sions to get by. That points to the huge pressures facing the country’s underfunded Just last week James Bond fans pension system, say social com - complained that censors had ruined mentators. Last year, reforms to Skyfall . But they may have helped to China’s pensions were announced improve Cloud Atlas , which stars Tom after a report by the Bank of China Hanks, Halle Berry and Chinese actress suggested an Rmb18.3 trillion ($2.9 Zhou Xun (pictured). The film, described by trillion) deficit in social security Hollywood Reporter as “too convoluted for funding this year. Without reform, easy comprehension”, has done well at the the gap will widen to Rmb68.2 tril - Chinese box office, grossing $11 million since lion by 2033. its premiere on January 31 versus only $78 Perhaps Xiaoer Nanyang will bol - million worldwide. And the speculation is that ster the case for the demographers this might be because almost 40 minutes of who argue the Chinese government its original 172-minute running time were cut should abandon its family-planning by the censor, SARFT. policy. And even if it doesn’t, the At the premiere, one of the film’s producers success of the show has already in - Lana Wachowski moaned about the edits to spired a crop of other TV series scenes featuring sex and violence. "It sucks about the topic. According to the really," she initially complained, quipping that Beijing Times, Child Slave , produced Chinese viewers could watch the full version by Huayi Brothers, and Little Daddy online. But she now seems less perturbed also dwell on the challenges young about the scissors treatment: “About the news Chinese face as they grow up to be - of my dissatisfaction with the China version of come parents. Cloud Atlas , it is a false statement. I believe in DDP [the Chinese distributor] and I am happy with the China version. I hope you will support Cloud Atlas, ” she wrote on Drogba departs Sina Weibo. Striker heads for Turkey after contract row

hree years ago, Zhu Jun, the ditched Shenhua to sign for Turkish part due to a shareholder squabble Tboss at Shanghai Shenhua foot - club Galatasaray. This follows the over funding for the club (see ball team and chairman of Nasdaq- departure of his former Chelsea col - WiC164). listed The9, posted a photo that league Nicolas Anelka, who joined Zhu denies this, saying that went viral on the internet. Italian side Juventus last week. Drogba’s contract includes a clause In it, Zhu is seen sitting behind a The transfers mark a damaging allowing the club a 28 day grace pe - table piled with renminbi notes. He moment for Shenhua and the Chi - riod for wage payments each is also holding a calculator, showing nese Super League, with the two month. the figure “10,000,000”. best-known players in the competi - “The payment delay was due to His point? Zhu had said that he tion both leaving in the space of a many reasons, but we have never vi - wanted to buy Liverpool Football few days. There is also the prospect olated the contract,” Zhu insists. Club, and was suggesting that he of an ongoing row between Drogba’s Galatasaray disagrees. “Drogba had the resources to do so. advisers and Shenhua in the weeks hadn’t been paid in three months Players at Shanghai Shenhua ahead, with the Shanghai club deny - in China, he had a clause giving him P h o t o have found it harder to glimpse ing that the player has permission the right to terminate his contract in

S o u r c Zhu’s money when it comes to get - to sign for the Turkish side. the case of non-payment of wages,” e :

I m

a ting their monthly salaries, it seems. Both men leave China after per - countered football agent Ceylan g i n e

C In fact, such was the difficulty of get - sistent reports that the club has not Caliskan on Turkish-football.com. h i n a ting paid that Didier Drogba has just been paying its players on time, in “We signed Drogba on a free con - 15 Week in China Society and Culture 8 February 2013

finishing in ninth place last year and failing to qualify for the Asian Champions League. And with the shareholder dispute dragging on and Zhu overseeing the departure of a number of first team regulars, the speculation is that he might try to move the club to Wuxi in Jiangsu. This follows the latest round of machinations in Dalian, where Dalian Shide, China’s most success - ful club and winner of eight cham - pionships, is heading out of busi - ness after Super League officials blocked a takeover bid from city ri - val Dalian Aerbin. Mentioned in WiC169, Shide has been hit hard by the fall from grace of its former owner Shide’s Xu Ming, who has been caught up in the Bo Xilai affair. The tycoon has been de - Drogba got a Shanghai surprise when his wages weren’t paid tained since last March, allegedly for corruption. His absence has crippled tract, we didn’t sign him from ple pleasures” including the un - the football team’s finances. Shanghai Shenhua.” likely habit of hitching lifts on mu - Football fans in Dalian are deso - Of course, when Drogba arrived in nicipal garbage trucks. late at losing a top-flight club. Dalian China last year he made it clear that “Oh, those kind of trucks they Shide’s place in the Super League financial considerations were not up - have to carry away rubbish, we wait has now been awarded to Shanghai permost on his mind. “Really, I didn’t for them to empty their rubbish out, Shenxin. n come here with the idea of making a then we pay the driver Rmb30 for a lot of money. I come here because it 10 minute ride,” he explained to be - is a completely different challenge mused reporters last October. Keeping track from what I have seen in Europe be - Given Batista made his remarks fore,” he told media at the time. in Spanish, WiC wonders whether The Hollywood deal that WiC predicted for But perhaps he underestimated something got lost in translation or Fu Ping in issue 178 may be on ice. The quite how different life in Shang - whether he was having some fun at successful US software entrepreneur and hai was going to be, not least as the expense of the reporters… author of the memoir Bend Not Break has Shenhua gives the impression of Drogba departs Shanghai having been on the defensive in recent days, being a chaotically managed team, scored eight goals in the 11 games after critics questioned the authenticity of some of her recollections of the Cultural with its shareholders at war with that he has played since arriving in Revolution. Fu has since conceded that a one another. China and the team’s supporters description of Red Guards brutally On the pitch too, the manage - seem understanding about his executing a teacher probably didn’t ment style has been unorthodox. move, as well as appreciative of his happen and was more likely “an Former coach Jean Tigana was efforts on the pitch. The African star emotional memory”. She has also clarified other incidents mentioned in the sacked unexpectedly last year and never belonged on the “third-class book but adds that she’s “shocked, replaced briefly by Anelka himself, stage of Chinese football,” Oriental heartbroken and deeply saddened” by before the arrival of Sergio Batista, Sports Daily noted. what she considers a smear campaign, the former Argentina coach. Shen - Anelka, scorer of three goals in 22 reports The Guardian in the UK. Her publisher, Penguin, has said it has hua’s 15th manager in 10 seasons, matches, is looked upon less kindly

P “absolute confidence” in the memoir. The h o t

o Batista sounds like an unusual char - by the fans.

book is “substantially correct” and S o u r acter in his own right, after advis - Despite their high profile sign - c “attempts to pick apart elements of it are e :

R e ing the Oriental Sports Daily that he ings, Shenhua didn’t climb the table political attacks,” it warns. u t e r s was a “simple man who enjoys sim - as rapidly as many had predicted, 16 Week in China And Finally 8 February 2013

Damn those delegates Hunan businessman goes public in fury at failed election bid

t is probably fair to say that But netizens have been scathing IHuang Yubiao, a 64 year-old real in their assessment. “He wouldn’t estate tycoon from Hunan province, have said a word if he was elected. was never really cut out for politics. He should face the legal repercus - Last year Huang tried unsuccess - sions of his actions,” wrote one Sina fully to stand for China’s National Weibo user, while o thers simply People’s Congress. This year he set posted the Chinese proverb “giving his sights a tad lower and attempted your enemy a wife while losing a sol - to join his local legislature. But his dier” (which equates to the English failure was even more high-profile idiom ‘cutting off your nose to spite on this occasion, after it emerged your face’). that he had spent Rmb320,000 Others marvelled that Huang ($51,300) bribing delegates and still thought he could buy the election not managed to get ‘elected’. so cheaply. Furious with the rejection, Huang Huang: unelectable guy? “Who is this idiot? Everyone demanded the return of his funds, knows that even the price of a vote this time secretly filming those who “I firstly prepared more than 470 for a village Party secretary is he had tried to influence. Many did envelopes with Rmb1,000 yuan in higher than Rmb1,000,” laughed return the money. But armed with each and presented 320 of them to one contributor. the evidence, Huang then posted voters. Then I lost heart, so I “Others must simply have paid “tell-all” confessions on several web - stopped,” he said. more than him,” suggested another. sites in an apparent attempt to force Whether Huang really had sec - Indeed, that is probably what a revote. ond thoughts or simply felt he had happened. “Some candidates paid “This Congress was voted in already secured the necessary votes Rmb2,000 to Rmb3,000 each. That through bribery and shady deal - is not clear. But what is plainer is is how they won,” Huang bemoaned ings,” he wrote. “I care about my that he hasn’t won much praise for in one of his mea culpas . home town and I wish to see an end coming clean. Newspapers were That suggests a seat could be to this kind of behaviour.” soon calling for him to face criminal bought in the local legislature in Hu - Huang claims he paid bribes charges, although Huang argues nan for less than Rmb1 million. Not against his conscience and under that by confessing to the act and get - an insignificant sum, obviously, but the instructions of a local Commu - ting the money back he has no case a trifle compared to what it costs to nist Party chief. to answer. run for office in the United States. n

Invitation declined

“I considered the proposition thoroughly and subsequently replied it would be inappropriate” P h * Former Hong Kong leader Donald Tsang on his decision not to participate in China’s CPPCC, o t o

S an advisory body to the country’s legislature. Tsang says he was invited to join the body but o u r c e declined because of his involvement in an ongoing corruption investigation in Hong Kong. :

C F P

17 Week in China The Back Page 8 February 2013

Photo of the Week In Numbers $72 billion The amount China has injected into the money market in an attempt to satisfy a huge demand for cash before next week’s Chinese New Year holiday. In previous years money market rates jumped just before the Lunar New Year as people drew down their savings to buy gifts and firms paid cash bonuses to workers. P h o t o

S 3,800 o u r c e The number of calls made to Hong Kong’s :

I m a hotline for milk formula since it was set up g i n e

nearly two days ago to assist local parents C h i n a to order formula. There has been a severe shortage of baby formula in the Hong Kong Gong Xi Fa Cai: red lanterns in Shanghai to celebrate the Lunar New Year market recently due to the surging demand of buyers from mainland China.

50% The percentage of Beijing’s heavy smog Where is it? contributed by emissions from motor Some of the places referred to in this issue vehicles, coal-burning and cooking, according to the research of the “haze’s Shenyang cause and control” group under the Beijing Chinese Academy of Sciences.

Shanxi 30 China The number of securities firms in China Shanghai expected to cancel year-end bonuses for Chengdu their employees owing to lacklustre Hunan performance. Despite the numerous policies introduced for the securities Guangdong industry, the sector suffered a decline in Shenzhen Hong Kong sales due to a weak stock market in 2012.

With 1.3 billion people, 293 languages and an often opaque business culture, China can often seem as mysterious as the Mona Lisa. Our easy-to-search website now helps you to find some of the answers. It contains a growing archive of more than 2,500 WiC articles. And the site has another advantage: subscribers are able to read us on the move each week via their Blackberry or iPhone. To get our weekly email and access the site, you’ll need to go to www.weekinchina.com/welcome/ and sign up. It takes just a couple of minutes to register. Sign up today!

The Week in China website and the weekly magazine publications are owned and maintained by ChinTell Limited, Hong Kong. Neither HSBC nor any member of the HSBC group of companies ("HSBC") endorses the contents and/or is involved in selecting, creating or editing the contents of the Week in China website or the Week in China magazine. The views expressed in these publications are solely the views of ChinTell Limited and do not necessarily reflect the views or investment ideas of HSBC. No responsibility will therefore be assumed by HSBC for the contents of these publications or for the errors or omissions therein.