Monday, May 29, 2006
It didn't go down!
Today we had the most interesting lecture so far: Foreign Investment Law. Our lecturer was one of the real movers and shakers in China - a senior partner with Jones Day - one of the world's largest law firms. The guy spent a large part of the class telling us interesting stories from some of the biggest deals being done by foreign firms here. The guy is ubber articulate in 4 languages, has law degrees from USA and France, grew up in Hong Kong, has practiced law all over the world.
When we came to talking about Foreign Direct Investment, he presented us with a graph. He told us to look at the years 1989 and 1990. He took a nervous glance outside the classroom. This is a time frame that is to say the least sensitive in China and I won't be talking about it more, but you know what I am talking about, if you know anything about China. His point: Foreign Direct Investment INCREASED between 1989 and 1990, from $56 billion to $66 billion.
It has gone up a lot in recent years, in 2002, it stood at $848 billion. This is because in 1992 Deng went down to Shanghai and told the city to open up. He then went to other provinces in the South and told them to do the same. Shanghai has taken off like a rocket. Next Monday, I will see for myself how far the rocket has soared.
When we came to talking about Foreign Direct Investment, he presented us with a graph. He told us to look at the years 1989 and 1990. He took a nervous glance outside the classroom. This is a time frame that is to say the least sensitive in China and I won't be talking about it more, but you know what I am talking about, if you know anything about China. His point: Foreign Direct Investment INCREASED between 1989 and 1990, from $56 billion to $66 billion.
It has gone up a lot in recent years, in 2002, it stood at $848 billion. This is because in 1992 Deng went down to Shanghai and told the city to open up. He then went to other provinces in the South and told them to do the same. Shanghai has taken off like a rocket. Next Monday, I will see for myself how far the rocket has soared.
