Business in China I: Introduction

Introduction to China, its business environment and travel

Jun 20, 2006

What come in mind when we say China? Kung-fu or kung pao chicken? Well China has gone past all the stereotypes and established itself as world's economic powerhouse.

Business in China. As it is not possible to discuss this topic in one article, we will be presenting a series of articles in coming weeks. Here is a list of focus issues we will be covering: Week 1: General introduction to China , Week 2: Traveling to China

Week 3: Investing in China's manufacturing sector, Week 4: Outsourcing IT services to China.

Please send us comments and suggestion or if you would like us to cover some topics.

The Asian Dragon has now risen. Establishing itself as an economic and political force, People's Republic of China is now ready to take its rightful place.

Recovering from the negatives of bloody Cultural Revolution initiated by Chairman Mao, with the help of communist-capitalist model China has surprised the world with GDP growth averaging 9% for the last decade. World's largest producer of steel, coal and cement, China has also made significant strides in social sector. Data from 2002 says that literacy is 90.9%, compared to India's 64%. Health and social services have also benefited from increased investment.

When discussing China, one has to talk about the country's rich cultural heritage, cuisine, history and diversity. With civilization that is 4,000 years old, China has interesting mix of ethnic groups and languages. Han Chinese are almost 91% of the total population, with the rest of population being 55 ethnic minority groups. Official language is Mandarin, called Putonghua locally. Cantonese is spoken in Guangdong, southern Guangxi, and Hong Kong. Being a communist state China is officially Atheist, although in recent years number of people saying that they believe in God or follow an organized religion has grown. Confucianism, Taoism, Buddhism, Muslim, Christian are some of the major religious groups.

Although it is more common to have people visiting China for business, pleasure trips are also on a rise. Visa is required for all travelers traveling to mainland China, but western nationals do not need visa to enter Hong Kong and Macau. China currently maintains one Embassy in Washington D.C., but also maintains 5 consulates-general in the following U.S. cities: New York, NY; Chicago, IL; San Francisco, CA; Los Angeles, CA; Houston, TX. For consulate contact information and location, please visit this link .

Next week we will discuss in detail about traveling to China, for business and regular travelers.

The copyright of the article Business in China I: Introduction in International Trade is owned by Bhumika Ghimire. Permission to republish Business in China I: Introduction in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.