Our second full day in Beijing

Our day began in Beijing with a business presentation this morning from Bill Wang, who is an associate of Dezan Shira & Associates in China. The presentation was entitled "How foreign investors start business in China," and mainly focused upon the legal environment of China that foreign investors are exposed to. The presentation was actually highly detailed, and discussed the different methods of entering China. For the US the most popular method seems to be the Wholly Foreign Owned Enterprise (WFOE), but the modes of entering China through the equity joint venture (EJV) and cooperative joint venture (CJV) were also discussed in length. In addition to these modes of entering China, issues of labor laws and the concept of SSW were also touched upon. SSW is the Statuary Social Welfare that needs to be present in a company in China, and basically consists of the compensation and benefits package that companies give to employees.

It was interesting to be introduced to this concept as a specific term that held significance in the Chinese business environment. Following the presentation there was also a question and answer period that discussed issues of labor standards and intellectual property, and also cleared up some details about the subject matter. Seen below is a picture of Prof. Forray presenting Bill Wang with a gift after his presentation as a gesture of thanks.

After the business presentation we had lunch at the hotel. I thought that I'd take this time to show you a picture of what the table would typically look like after a meal. I know I've talked about how meals are conducted before, but the actual picture may make things more clear. As illustrated, the meal (whether it be breakfast, lunch, or dinner) is served in different dishes that come at various times, and is shared among the group by spinning the dishes around the table on the glass plate in the center. Almost all of us are using chopsticks for meals, and there haven't been any serious difficulties. Forks have been available at almost every meal, but there's really no challenge in that. Even I had only used chopsticks maybe five times before visiting China, and have done very well thankfully.

After eating lunch we went to the Great Wall. Rather than continue here I think I'll make a separate post with some pictures because I'm limited to five pictures per post. Just let me tell you right now though, it was amazing. Before I move on though, I think I'll tell you about something I found interesting that I learned about from our guide on our way to the Great Wall which would be useful to those traveling to Beijing. Grace (our guide) told us that Beijing is really divided into four parts. The northern part of Beijing is where the majority of the technology companies are located, and is also home to the majority of educational institutions. The eastern part of Beijing is considered to be the central business district of the city, and also happens to be the most expensive area to traverse. This area is also the location of many high rise apartment buildings with high rents. The southern part of the city is considered to be the industrial sector, and the western part is the financial district. Where we are staying is in the northern part of Beijing. Now to the Great Wall.