China on Wheels——The Volkswagen Success Story

“When are you going to buy car?“is a question frequently heard these days. Over the past few years,automobiles have become a feature of Chinese households.China‘s first automobile manufacturing base was 50 years ago in Changchun, Jilin Provice. For three decades, produciton was limited to old-style lorries, and a limited number of Red-flag brand carrs for government use. Technology as outdated and output capacity low. The few family cars on Chinese roads were imported.In the 1980s, Deng Xiaoping,pioneer of China‘s reform and opening policy, decided to develop China‘s national automobile industry in order that the Chinese people might drive Chinesemade rathe than foreign cars.In the following two decades,with the estabishment of joint ventures,the Chinese automobile industry boomed.By 1998 China had become one of the top the automobile manufacturing countries in the world. Now,in 2003,with an estimated annual production volume of 4 million vehicles,China ranks fourth in the world. The developement of the automobile industry has brought an enormous change to he Chinese people. The development of the automobile industry has brought an enormous change to the Chinese people. The increasing number of family cars enriches their lives, stimulates the tourism industry, and keeps business at car repair firms and driving schools brisk. Since China put it self on wheels, an increasing number of leading world automobile companies have focused on its market.     

Paving the Way For Private Equity

Since China fully opened its financial market on December 11 last year, a variety of foreign financial institutions have come to share in the blossoming Chinese market. Global private equity firms have also attached keen interest to this emerging market. One Equity Partners LLC (OEP), a North America-based investment company under JP Morgan Chase & Co., is also preparing to enter China to make things happen. Beijing Review had the chance to interview Dr. Utz-Hellmuth Felcht, Managing Director of OEP, at the Bo'ao Forum for Asia in late April to hear his views on the development of Chinese companies, particularly those in the chemical industry.     

BoomingOverseas Purchases

正Chinese firms increase mergers and acquisitions in foreign markets China’s cross-border mergers and acquisitions (MAs) increased in the first quarter, but Chinese and Western sources have differing explanations for the uptick.The Chinese Ministry of Commerce(MOFCOM)reported that Chinese companies     

It Takes Two

正Didi and Uber declare a marriage of convenience They have been at loggerheads over fares for years,but now a white flag has been waved across the ride-hailing market in China.Didi Chuxing and Uber have finally agreed to bury the hatchet ending their costly fight for the largest on-demand transportation market in the world.Didi Chuxing,or Didi for short,is a home-     

A Brand-New Battleground

<正>China will open its bank card clearing market,ending the 13-year monopoly of state eiant UnionPay By Zhou XiaoyanAfter years of knocking,the door to the Chinese market finally opened for the world's two largest card suppliers Visa and MasterCard.Starting from June 1,qualified foreign and domestic clearing firms can apply for a license in the bank card clearing market,which has been monopolized by state-owned China UnionPay(UnionPay)for over a decade,according to an announcement from the State Council on April 22.Stock prices of MasterCard and Visa rose following the news.Back in 1988,international payment organization MasterCard set up an office in Beijing and five years later,Visa followed suit,both drooling over the promising bank card clearing market in the world's most populous     

Multinationals Move Inland

Central China, initially overlooked by many foreign investors as being too far from the ports in Tianjin, Shanghai and Shenzhen, is emerging as an essential destination for multinationals in China.The Future of Central China: A Provincial Roadmap There is a huge manufacturing drive in central China. Businesses are moving inland to set up projects, investments and operations here, primarily due to lower labor and land costs as well as preferential policies for manufacturers. Multinational companies also are starting to view the region as the next step toward an integrated China strategy, and the consumer population in the second-and third-tier cities in central China represents a growing, largely untapped domestic market for foreign products and services.     

MARKET WATCH

Chinese stocks plummeted nearly 7 perrcent on May 30, leading to a los of over 1 trillion yuan. The sharp drop was caused by an increase in stamp tax on stock trading, tripling the previous rate. It was considered a market correction and was right in time to kill recent stock mania around the country. The Chinese stock market rebounded the following day, showing off investors' strong expectations. The Shanghai Stock Exchange stated China is preparing for overseas-listed Chinese companies and international blue chips to be listed on the mainland. The Chinese oil giant Sinopec survived the drop, as it had discovered a new oil field and was expected to generate more profits for its shareholders. Apart from exploring more oil and other traditional energy sources, China is also devoted to developing nuclear power. Government officials disclosed that domestic private companies and foreign companies will be allowed to invest in Chinese nuclear power plants, but didn't give an exact timetable. Private companies have performed well in China and their fixed asset investment accounts for 56 percent of the nation's total.     

MARKET WATCH

China’s once-feverish manufacturing industry is cooling down as the purchasing managers index heads south. Commercial banks experience a surge in profits, but worries are proliferating about their shrinking deposits.Steelmakers, however, are feeling the pinch of lackluster demand and falling steel prices. The Swedish auto brand Saab is set to be acquired by two Chinese companies gearing up to expand globally. China is expected to become the world’s second largest consumption market by 2020.     

＂＂Big Day＂＂ Draws Near for International Express Delivery Giants

China's massive logistics sector is set to open to wholly-owned foreign enterprises from December 11, 2005. Having raked in an annual revenue of RMB 5 billion (US $0.6 billion) last year, China's express delivery market is set to become the 6th largest in the world by 2010. International express delivery companies are taking note, whether or not they already have a presence in China. Since the 1980s, giants like UPS, FedEx, TNT and DHL have altogether snatched an 80 percent share of China's international express delivery market. Now, as the big opening-up day approaches, their plans for the future are gathering momentum.     

Safe and Secure

After four rounds of review and deliberations starting in 2015,the longawaited revised Securities Law of the People's Republic of China finally took effect on March 1.It marks a key moment for China on further liberalizing its capital market and improving the market environment to enhance market appeal and better serve the real economy.     

Embracing an International Board

<正>A new international stock board will soon be established in Shanghai,allowing foreign companies to list their businesses and tap into the China market China is moving closer to launching its own international stock board,a market for foreign companies to list their stocks in China,said Shang Fulin,     

Reversing Course

Latin American countries' nationalization of their energy resources raises concern in the international energy market Recently, some Latin American countries have adopted policies to nationalize their natural resources, steps that have profound implications for the international energy market, especially the oil market, and have aroused widespread concern in the international community. The initiative was taken mainly in resource-rich countries and targeted largely at oil and natural gas companies. Latin America     

Gas Pipeline to Be Tripled by 2015

China＇s Growth Enterprises Board, often called ＂China＇s Nasdaq-style second board market＂ has become a production line for the country＇s new rich. Nearly 500 CEOs and managers have joined the RMB 100 million （US $15 million） club since Initial Public Offering （IPO） of their startup companies were listed on the second board on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange in the past year.     

Coming Home

Xie Zhonggao,head of the Beijing office for AsiaVest Partners,had lived in the United States for 16 years before settling down in Beijing in 2004. Xie had felt like"going home."In the U.S.he was"amazed by the wide open market for Chinese consumer concepts,"and sensing an opportunity, he returned to China to invest in manufacturing and consumer product enterprises.Here he talks with Chinese Venture:about AsiaVest's business focus and vision as well as about the venture capital market in China as a whole.     

MARKET WATCH

House prices continue heading north in most Chinese cities,defying government efforts to curb the property market fever. Chinese companies press ahead with outbound mergers and acquisitions, as they expand their footprint beyond China’s borders. China has boosted its holdings of the U.S. Treasury Securities for two consecutive months after previously shedding these assets. State-owned enterprises continue along a profitable path, with profits soaring in the first half of this year. China remains the world’s hottest initial public offering (IPO) market, despite a decrease in IPO cases in the first half.     

Padded Pockets to the Rescue——Look to Consumer Finance Companies for Economic Hope

THE China Banking Regulatory Commission （CBRC） broke new ground byapproving the establishment of three consumer finance companies in January 2010. This is the debut for firms of this kind in China although they have existed for more than 400 years in Western countries.     

Small Loans, Mighty Impact

WENZHOU has cultivated the most vibrant private capital market in China, estimated conservatively at RMB 342 billion by the Wenzhou Branch of the People＇s Bank of China, or a steeply higher RMB 600 million by other experts. China＇s Banking Regulatory Commission published Advice on Experiments with Small Loan Companies in May of 2008, clarifying the nature of these financial entities and setting rules for their operation. It is widely believed this is a move by the state to give private capital its long awaited legitimacy. So far eight small loan companies have been established in the city, all closely watched by the financial sector of the nation.     

Focus

China: The World's Fifth Largest Ad Market China's advertising market continues to grow at an astonishing pace, and is currently worth about RMB 180 billion a year. That makes it the world's fifth largest ad market. However, half of that sum was generated in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangdong alone, and the top ten provinces with the highest business volume accounted for about 90 percent of the total. Net Dealers Rocket to 20 Million China's population of online merchants has soared to 20 million in the last three years. There are now more than 2,000 companies offering e-commerce services. With close to 17 million members, www.alibaba.com is by far the biggest company, and www.hc360.com comes in a distant second. The figures are rising every day. However, according to statistics released by the Ministry of Commerce, the trade volume for all e-commerce conducted in 2005 amounted to just RMB 300 billion. That figure accounts for a mere 3.5 percent of the total sales of small and medium-sized firms.     

CHINA-ERITREA FRIENDSHIP BUILDERS

Eritrea is located on the coast of the Red Sea in East Africa. After declaring independence in 1991, its government is striving hard to restore the country's economy. Dozens of Internationally recognized companies from the Middle East, Europe and Asia-Pacific regions have taken part in the bid for the country's engineering market. Sichuan Road & Bridge Co. Ltd. (SRBC) from China is a front-runner in the cutthroat race     

Dangers of Trade Protectionism

正In the name of "national security," U.S. politicians have tried to block Huawei and ZTE, two of China’s major private telecom firms, from entering the U.S. market. This triggered concerns that trade protectionism could affect the development of the free market economy around the world.