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　　Beijing and northeast China are fast becoming an area of growing 　　interest to international investors. Here we highlight some aspects of the major
　　cities and consider options for setting up business in this area.
　　
　　Changchun
　　
　　China’s car city
　　Changchun means cars. The city’s most famous enterprise, First Automobile Works (FAW), created China’s very first road vehicle, the “Jiefang” truck, back in 1956. FAW now covers an enormous area stretching for several kilometers in the Changchun Auto Economic Trade Development Zone, and has a huge joint venture with Volkswagen. There are in all three major development zones, with gleaming new commercial palaces rising up alongside factories housing big foreign companies (although the FDI numbers remain small by comparison with other cities). Walk out of any city center hotel and you’ll find an Armani outlet, Parkson’s, Wal-Mart and any number of other glitzy foreign-branded stores.
　　But arriving in the city by train you still pass through extensive, rather grimy suburbs. The term “rustbelt” easily springs to mind. Old, derelict factories abound. Smokestacks spew steam. Long trainloads of coal rumble past. Downtown, groups of middle-aged men, probably unemployed state-owned enterprise workers, sell clothes, a few mobile phones and other knick-knacks on street corners. The backstreet housing is shabby, reminiscent of the worst of European social housing from the 1960s. Local transportation, for coal, rubbish and general goods, still includes a fair number of carts drawn by stocky horses. The city is something of a place of contrasts.
　　However, positioned close to the major port of Dalian but with significantly lower overheads and a reasonably skilled labor force, Changchun represents good value for money for manufacturing industries using steel or in the automotive and shipping industries, and their related sub-industries.
　　
　　Harbin
　　
　　Snow city, shopping mecca
　　This city was in the global news in late 2005 for all the wrong reasons, following the benzene spill into the Songhuajiang River from a local petrochemical factory. It now faces a major challenge to reestablish its reputation and attractiveness as a tourist destination.
　　Although Harbin does have some major manufacturing industries, a quick wander around the city center reveals that it is even more important as a shopping and tourism location serving well-off visitors from Japan, Korea and Russia. Tourism revenue in 2004 was 22.5 billion yuan, with about 10 percent of that coming from overseas visitors.
　　Top brands such as Lane Crawford now line the main shopping area, while many Hong Kong and Japanese outlets also have a presence. A new shopping center called Euro Plaza is nearing completion, and others are under construction. A giant Wanda shopping mall opened in 2005 on the banks of Songhuajiang, and there is a Warner Brothers multiplex cinema. Stalwarts Parkson, Wal-Mart and Metro make shopping a breeze, along with any number of shops selling assorted Russian souvenirs of varying quality.
　　Given its close proximity to Russia, Harbin is a great source for lumber and construction industry wood, as well as a base for furniture manufacturers. The direct link to China’s massive rail network provides access to China, Russia, Japan and North Korea.
　　
　　Qingdao
　　
　　Port city setting sail
　　Qingdao boasts the number one ranking for quality of life in the nation, and is also a leading tourist destination due to its seaside setting and good weather. Parks, beaches and sculptures, as well as some unique architecture, line the waterfront.
　　It has a large port, handling a freight volume of some 7 million Twenty-foot Equivalent Units (TEUs) and over 160 million tons of cargo annually. But the sea is important to the city for leisure as well as trade. Qingdao will host 11 sailing events during the 2008 Olympics, and some $8.2 billion of new infrastructure is being constructed.
　　The city is home to many famous Chinese brands, such as Haier, the country’s largest home electronics producer, Hisense and of course Tsingtao Beer. A significant number of foreign retailers are in Qingdao, including two Carrefour stores, one Jusco, one Wal-Mart and one Metro.
　　Qingdao’s proximity to the Japanese, Korean and U.S. West Coast markets has seen it develop its latent fruit and food processing industries from the orchards of Shandong, and if you are involved in this sector you should seriously consider Qingdao.
　　
　　Yantai
　　
　　Shandong’s golden city
　　This is another attractive coastal city. Yantai is now number 18 in China and comes second in Shandong in terms of GDP. The city is the second most important industrial region in Shandong Province, with more than 2,000 large and medium-sized industrial enterprises in light industry, foodstuffs, textiles, machinery, electronics, metallurgy, coal, gold, building materials, silk and chemistry. The city has identified four important pillar industries―machinery, electronics, food processing and gold.
　　As one foreign consultant working for the local government noted, “The city has plenty cheap and available land, as well as a talented work force. There are three universities, 16 colleges, 100,000 students and more than 100 foreign professors…. Yantai is also a very beautiful resort, enjoying an exceptional quality of life.”
　　Note: This is the last part of a special report on the investment opportunities in Beijing and the cities of northeast China.省略 is a senior partner of Dezan Shira & Associates, Business Consultants www.省略

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