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the China Pavilion at the World Expo, held earlier this year in Shanghai |
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The philosopher Confucius, whose wise sayings helped shape the thinking of the 6th century BC society in which he lived, is back in vogue, writes Colin Ellson.
UNBELIEVABLY, he’s once again popular with the Chinese leadership that vilified him during Mao Tse Tung’s Cultural Revolution of 1949, when the Red Guards destroyed all the statues, historic landmarks, temples and texts associated with the sage.
Today, Confucius is enjoying a revival, his thoughts exhumed and interwoven with those of the government overseeing the best-performing economy in the world, which grew by close to nine per cent last year.
British companies could do worse than heed one Confucian thought in particular: “Wheresoever you go, go with all your heart.” It does, indeed, take heart to tackle the often inscrutable Chinese market, but the rewards are there for the negotiating in a country of 1.3 billion consumers with an insatiable appetite for all things Western.
The scope for expansion is vast: in 2009, Britain sent a mere two per cent of its exports to China, but they were worth £5billion.
A recent joint UK Trade and Investment and China-Britain Business Council guide to market entry sketches out the potential: “The Chinese government is pressing hard to improve infrastructure and social welfare,” it reports, “as well as targeting resources to develop China’s vast rural and interior regions, aiming to unleash domestic consumption among the wider population. Whether selling, trading, investing or franchising, China offers opportunities in abundance to UK companies, large or small.”
Chasing down Chinese companies to open the order book or explore investment openings presents few logistical problem, with Taiwan’s China Airlines joining the SkyTeam airline alliance, allowing mutual access to extensive route networks.
Of the six cities in our review, Beijing, Hong Kong and Shanghai can be reached on direct flights from the UK, with a choice of carriers. The exceptions are Chongqing, Guangzhou and Shenzen, which can be accessed from a number of European and Gulf States gateways. Alternatively, transit via a major Chinese city, all of which have comprehensive domestic networks.
Confucius, he say, go for it.
Beijing
Increasingly known for its innovative entrepreneurs and high-growth start-ups, the Chinese capital is the driving force behind one of the most remarkable economic success stories of the recent past. In Northern China, it is a major transportation hub and political, educational and cultural centre of the People’s Republic. Its modern infrastructure, developed to accommodate the city’s hosting of the 2008 Olympic Games, contrasts with palaces, temples, stone walls and gateways.
Over 750 financial organisations and numerous corporate regional headquarters call the city home, and the industries include electronics, computer-related businesses, IT, steel and pharmaceuticals research.
British Airways and Air China both fly daily from London Heathrow to the Chinese capital. The same frequency is offered by Finnair from Helsinki, Lufthansa out of Frankfurt, and KLM from Amsterdam Schiphol airport. Air France operates 14 times a week from Paris Charles de Gaulle, and China Southern has frequent departures from both the French and Netherlands capitals. Flights from the Gulf States comprise Etihad’s five services a week from Abu Dhabi, Qatar Airways’ four a week out of Doha, and Emirates’ twice-daily schedule from Dubai.
Chongqing
Remotely located in south west China, Chongqing has an ever-growing number of river bridges and a hyper-dense skyline, leading to its nickname, ‘Chicago on the Yangtze’. Too far inland to be a major exporter, it has concentrated instead on the domestic market, with factories producing consumer goods, chemicals, textiles and electronics.
The city is the country’s third-largest centre
for motor vehicle manufacturing and the biggest for motorcycles, and has significant iron, steel, aluminium, natural gas and minerals industries.
There are no flights from the UK to Chongqing. A convenient alternative is to fly to Hong Kong and onward aboard one of Cathay Pacific’s frequent services.
Guangzhou
On the Pearl River, the capital of Guangdong province is China’s third-largest city. A key transportation hub and trading port, it is both the commercial axis and main manufacturing centre of the Pearl River Delta. Its industrial zones are involved in automobile assembly, biotechnology and heavy industry, while the free trade zone handles computer software.
With no direct services from the UK, European flights are with Air France from Paris CDG, flying three times a week, or China Southern’s convenient code-share flights from Paris or Amsterdam. Emirates flies to Guangzhou daily from Dubai, and Qatar Airways flies four times a week from Doha.
Hong Kong
Despite the transfer of its sovereignty from the UK to Communist China in 1997, Hong Kong remains what the late economist Milton Friedman described as “the world’s greatest experiment in laissez-faire capitalism”.
Situated on China’s south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, the former British colony has experienced little interference from Beijing, allowing it to rely for its continuing prosperity on market forces, the private sector, and re-exports. Hong Kong is an important centre for international financial services and trade, and has one of the greatest concentrations of corporate headquarters in the region.
From Heathrow, British Airways has a double-daily service to Hong Kong, Virgin and Qantas both fly daily, and Cathay Pacific departs four times a week. Services from the continent include daily flights with Finnair and KLM, from Helsinki and Amsterdam respectively, while Air France operates 14 times a week out of Paris CDG. Qatar Airways offers daily departures from Doha, and Emirates two a day from Dubai.
Shanghai
Shanghai showcased its global influence in commerce, finance, fashion and research when it staged Expo 2010 this year. Indeed, it has been a conduit for trade between East and West since the Treaty of Nanking opened up the country to foreign exporters in 1842.
The city has undergone widespread redevelopment as a result of China’s economic reforms, its modern architecture co-existing with historic landmarks such as the Bund and City God Temple. At the mouth of the Yangtze River, Shanghai has ranked as one of the busiest cargo ports on earth since 2005. Increasing its role in financial services, and as a location for corporate headquarters, the metropolis also has a number of bustling industrial zones.
From London Heathrow, Virgin flies to Shanghai daily – Air China code-sharing on the route – with British Airways operating five times a week, and China Eastern four times a week. Air France operates 14 services weekly from Paris CDG, KLM flies 12 times a week from Amsterdam Schiphol, and Finnair and Lufthansa have daily departures from Helsinki and Frankfurt respectively. Emirates offers a double-daily frequency out of Dubai, and Qatar Airways serves Shanghai daily from
its Doha home hub.
Shenzen
From a small fishing village in the 1970s, Shenzen has been transformed into one of the world’s fastest-growing cities by significant foreign investment, claiming to build ‘one high-rise a day and one boulevard every three days’. Southern China’s main financial centre and an important container port, it is also a manu-facturing giant, the Shenzen Hi-tech Industrial Park hosting companies in the biotechnology, pharmaceuticals, building, chemicals, computer software, electronics, medical equipment and telecoms sectors.
With no direct services between the UK and Shenzen, travel is via a major Chinese gateway.
THE CARBON COST
The table below shows the distance covered by a return flight between London and the destination, along with the approximate carbon emissions and the cost of offsetting it with the CarbonNeutral Company. See: www.carbonneutral.com.
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