To the day five years ago, the Dreyer brothers booked their tickets to China. Today, David, Julius, and Robert, 28, 26, and 24 respectively are millionaires. The NetCircle is their Shanghai-based company which specializes in creating and sustaining large-scale Web communities. The most prominent one is a dating site ranking among Germany’s top 20 Web communities.

More than 2 million members who create 2.5 billion page views per year visit the Dreyer sites. Besides website development, the company also does business in Internet start-ups.

Last year, The NetCircle made a profit of 35million yuan ($5.1 million). The young brothers employ more than 50 staff from more than 10 countries and their work place is located at the end of Shanghai’s Yichang Road, occupying an area of 1,000 sqm. Their workplace is a little arrangement of two-story brick houses, an obvious contrast to the city’s overall modern and sensational layout. It is a renovated version of a warehouse, thus gets the name: Warehouse Creative Center. The three young German brothers work in one of these houses, striving for their dream.

The brothers started their small Internet business early in their teens back in Bielefeld. At that time, they bought memorable Web domains and programmed them to be easily found by search engines. Their work did attracted a lot of traffic to those sites, which were more serious but harder to find, so they made a decent amount of money from those websites. The money was enough to send them on a long holiday, and after some consideration, they chose the charming China as their destination.

The brothers rented a six-room apartment in the Putuo district, Shanghai, for their working holiday. They did some Internet project rather leisurely at first, but unexpectedly, one of their dating sites became so popular that they had to work all hours to keep the site running. Then they recruited some IT experts, and a 30-member team crowded into this small apartment by the end of 2007. It was a win-win strategy for both parties when the municipal government leased the brothers the old warehouse at a reasonable price while The NetCircle boys agreed to renovate the building.

During their expanding process, the brothers hired Swiss Claude Ritter as CEO to help optimize their business structure. Due to its fast-growing pace, the company needs many more hands to handle this challenging job of the Web projects. The problem wasn’t the lack of applicants, but the right people to be hired in this international team, consisting of Chinese, Germans, Uruguayans, British, Kazakhs, and many others. Misunderstandings are unavoidable in such a culturally diversified environment, but it also invites creativity and inspiration. Also, their pleasant working climate has won them a good reputation as an attractive employer.
Ritter says they receive 30 to 40 applications every week, but only one or two of them are qualified to an interview and pre-employment testing.

The NetCircle plans to expand their group scale by another 10 to 20 percent in 2009 and they are particularly interested in hiring Chinese employees. Ritter explains that if they employ more Chinese staff, things will be easier for the company operation with fewer language barriers.

Ritter has encountered culture shock himself when he first came to Shanghai in 2005 on a 4-month university project. He didn’t know a thing about China or a word of Chinese at that time. He had been more interested in going westwards, like America，but the novelty and possibilities in China finally persuaded him out of his original plan. Things proved his correct choice for after the project. Ritter became so reluctant to go back to Switzerland. Then he found a job in the Dreyer’s company as a project leader and now becomes CEO after fours years.

Ritter learned to speak some everyday Chinese to better communicate with the local people, but it is quite another story for the Dreyer brothers who take regular Chinese lessons every weekday since their arrival in Shanghai, and they can almost speak fluently. Julius Dreyer expresses his feelings about learning Chinese that the more he knows about the language the more familiar he becomes with Chinese culture. He’s happy that he has got over the initial culture shock that leads to the uneasiness of many foreigners in Shanghai.

It is fairly easy for foreigners to live together in Shanghai for there are so many of them to form a community, but Dreyer suggests going out of this circle and meet new people and experience new things to expand their life circle.

Of course, a foreigner should take things easy, not in a rush too often, especially with Chinese food. So he always orders the strangest dishes to him to conquer his prejudice against Chinese things and he thinks it worth the try.

Now the Dreyer brothers are planning to set up a new business, Julius and David want to work in other places but Robert will remain in Shanghai to finish the projects.

They are preparing for a novel life in Barcelona and create a new and a more wonderful life. The plan is to develop a new branch of The NetCircle, which will focus on marketing and sales and some supplementing work to the headquarters.

They are embracing the world as a whole and trying new things all the time for a more fabulous life!

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Best Life, a life style magazine, carried out the survey, interviewing 792 wealthy Chinese in 62 cities from 27 provinces with the help of local chambers of commerce. The interviewed people were private entrepreneurs possessing property of over 10 million Yuan, i.e. 1.4 million dollars. The magazine said in June, over four fifths of the interviewed also remarked that in the country the financial disparity between rich and poor was too large.

On June 17th, Li Wei, director of the social development at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS), told China Daily, “In the last few years, the great disparity between rich and poor in China has become self-evident.” He said, “We have noticed this phenomenon in research time and again, so it is understandable that the rich also feel this way.”

The interviewed in the latest survey had different definitions for the upper class. Some of them believed the yuppie group were included, while others commented that the term of upper class means connection with the high society, expensive lifestyles, and even more social responsibility, according to the report of the magazine. The CASS reported in its 2009 Blue Book on Chinese Society, the growing income gap in China is thought of as one of the country’s most urgent social problems.

The country’s fast economic development is a reason for the swift growing of the number of the rich. At the end of 2007, there were 415,000 rich people in China, 20.3 percent more than in 2006, according to the third annual Asia Pacific Wealth Report released by Merrill Lynch and Capgemini.

The rich people in the report referred to those with assets of over $1 million, not including their own residence. According to the report, rich Chinese on average own $5 million.

Still, in Li’s view, China’s upper class does not merely refer to the rich. “I agree that China has such a group of elites,” he remarked, “As long as there is equal opportunity for everyone to become rich, it can stimulate social development.” Some entrepreneurs admit that a wealthy class exists.

“I think an upper class exists in China but I don’t belong to it.” Kevin Zhou, a 31-year-old private entrepreneur in a large general motor manufacturer in Chongqing, told China Daily yesterday.

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According to estimation, 72.6 billion yuan ($ 10 billion) will be cost on this 29.6 km bridge, which links Hong Kong, Zhuhai and Macao.  The reclaimed island off Gongbei of Macao and the eastern artificial island for the tunnel section of Hong Kong will be connected through this bridge.

The bridge construction would begin towards the end of 2009, according to the speech of Premier Wen Jiabao at the annual session of the National People’s Congress early in March.

The bidding will decide which company is responsible for the construction design of the main body, ports in Hong Kong, Zhuhai and Macao and side-linkings in Hong Kong and Zhuhai, the bridge’s coordinative office mentioned.

The preparatory design and inquiry of the bridge’s main body started on March 13, according to a deal signed between the authorities from Hong Kong, Guangdong and Macao.

The security of the white Chinese dolphins in the Pearl River estuary was considered and the authorities reemphasized the protection of them during the construction.

Efficient measures to protect the sea environment near the estuary should be founded in any tendering reports, the office stressed.

Largest protection area for the white Chinese dolphins exists in the estuary.

Further more, as is said, since five shipping tunnels will be built under the bridge, tendering reports should also include transport safety related details.

The design should consider the lifestyle, which is set at 120 years, for the bridge, it said.

Thanks to the six-lane bridge, the drive between Hong Kong and Zhuhai will be cut down from about four hours to just half an hour.

According to Guangdong provincial government sources, in total, 18,200 freight vehicles and 1,177 passenger vehicles entered or left Hong Kong each day, while the figures for Macao were 883 and 354 respectively.

Necessary environmental and engineering studies for the bridge has been made by the Hong Kong government and an environmental effect evaluation will be done by mid-2009, said Wai Chi-sing, Hong Kong director of highways.

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He once wrote the city of “The setting of Nanjing is wonderful. Mountains, lakes and plains are all around here,” as his mausoleum lies in Nanjing. However, the historical and contemporary significant has made the city more than greatness.

Lying in the lower Yangzte River basin and the Yangzte River Delta economic zone, Nanjing was the capital of China over six ancient dynasties and serves as the capital of Jiangsu Province today. It is still playing its historical role as a centre of education, research, transportation, and tourism. Besides, its setting at the intersection of the Yangzte River with many traditional overland transportation routes has flagged it as a key point between the east-west waterways and the north-south road and railway networks.

Scaling over a total of 6,598 square kilometers with 7.4 million permanent residents, of which 75% now are classed as urban dwellers, Nanjing is the second largest commercial center in Easter China after Shanghai. A great amount of investments in recent years in its economy, commerce, industry and infrastructure has increased the city’s GDP to $6,000 per head of population, together with technical competence and resource, Nanjing has topped first 10 among all mainland cities.

Recently, Nanjing has been named as “one of the most promising cities in the Asia-Pacific” and “one of the top three commercial cities in the Chinese mainland” by Forbes, the authoritative US business magazine.

Geographical advantage
As the most important transportation hub in eastern China and the downstream Yangzte River area, Nanjing’s advanced transport network offers a vital link between land, air and waterway services.

Nanjing Lukou International Airport, one the 10 largest airport in China, has a great number of regular passengers and cargo flights to international destinations, such as London, Ftankfurt, Amsterdam, Vancouver, Los Angeles, Chicago, Moscow, Tokyo, Singapore and Seoul.

The city’s harbor is the largest inland harbor in Asia and services some 200 ports in 80 different countries and regions.

A historic and cultural city
Nanjing city was established 2,500 years ago, but the ealiest civilizations in the Nanjing area can be traced back to 6,000 years. Nanjing has served as the national capital of more than 10 dynasties and regimes during its long history. This role was ended by the day of the foundation of the Republic of China when Beijing was appointed as the capital. The long history has left the city with countless antique artifacts and cultural treasures.

Climate and environment
Nanjing put forward an “urban green space” policy in 2003 and till now, nearly half of the tree-planting initiative has been completed. The green area of this city has increased to 12 square meters per head of population.

Recognized as “The National Park of the Year”, “The National Urban Hygiene Awards” and as a model city by both the National Environmental Protection agency and the National Afforestation agency, Nanjing is widely honored for its eco-friendly progress in its sustainable development.

Due to its low crime rate and high reputation for public security, Nanjing is one of the cities national wide with high living standard.

Speaking the climate, Nanjing falls within the northern subtropical monsoon climate zone and enjoys four seasons with plentiful sunshine and rains. The average temperature is 17.8C and the annual amount of rainfall is 1,034 mm.

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INVITATION FOR BIDS

LIAONING THIRD MEDIUM CITIES INFRASTRUCTURE PROJECT

Loan No.: 75240-CN, IFB No.: 0704-0810ICBYKDHG/02, Date: March 10, 2009

1. This invitation for bids follows the general procurement notice for this project that appeared in Development Business of January 14, 2008.

2. The People’s Republic of China has received a loan from the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development toward the cost of Liaoning Third Medium Cities Infrastructure Project and it intends to apply part of the proceeds of this loan to payments under the contract for Supply and Installation of Coal-Boiler Equipment under District Heating component of Dashiqiao City.

3. CNCCC International Tendering Co., Ltd. and Liaoning Tianxingjian Tendering Co., Ltd. (hereafter called “Procurement Agent”), on behalf of Dashiqiao City Urban Construction Investment Co., Ltd. (hereafter called “Employer”), now invite sealed bids from eligible bidders for the execution and completion of the above contract.

4. Bidding will be conducted through the international competitive bidding procedure specified in the World Bank’s Guidelines: Procurement under IBRD Loans and IDA Credits, and is open to all bidders from eligible source countries as defined in the guidelines.

5. Interested eligible bidders may obtain further information from Liaoning Tianxingjian Tendering Co., Ltd. or the Employer starting from March 10, 2009 and inspect the bidding documents at the address given below:

Liaoning Tianxingjian Tendering Co., Ltd.

Address: Liaoning Rencai Mansion, No. 50, Harbin Road, Heping District, Shenyang City, Liaoning Province 110002, China

Tel: (+8624)62151152 Ex 2122 Fax: (+8624)22534655

Dashiqiao City Urban Construction Investment Co., Ltd.

Address: No. 2, Ergao Street, Dashiqiao 115100, Liaoning Province, China Tel: (+86417) 5916104

6. A complete set of bidding documents in English or Chinese may be purchased by interested bidders on the submission of a written application to the address above and upon payment of a nonrefundable fee of RMB2000 or USD350. The method of payment will be in cash or by check. The document will be sent by express mail upon payment for mail of RMB300 (Domestic) or USD50 (Abroad).

7. Bids must be delivered to the address below at or before 8:30 a.m. on April 21, 2009. All bids must be accompanied by a bid security of not less than 2% of Bid Price or an equivalent amount in a freely convertible currency. Late bids will be rejected. Bids will be opened in the presence of the bidders’ representatives who choose to attend at the address below at 8:30 a.m. on April 21, 2009.

Place of Bid Submission and Bid Opening:

Meeting room, Jinhua Hotel, No. 5, Beiqi Road, Heping District, Shenyang, Liaoning Province, China

Are you interested in this Invitation for Bids opportunity in China?

China is one of the world’s great growth markets and is likely to be for many years to come. Foreign companies often face difficulties in assessing Chinese market demand and enacting effective strategies because of the language barriers, culture differences, and high expense.

BPOVIA is the pioneering virtual assistant and Knowledge process outsourcing (KPO) service provider in China. Combines international perspective with local know-how, BPOVIA can provide our clients China business development service and help our clients doing successful business in China.

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INVITATION FOR BIDS

LIAONING THIRD MEDIUM CITIES INFRASTRUCTURE PROJECT

Loan No.: 75240-CN, IFB No.: 0704-0810ICBYKEHG/01, Date: February 6, 2009

1. This invitation for bids follows the general procurement notice for this project that appeared in Development Business of January 14, 2008.

2. The People’s Republic of China has received a loan from the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development toward the cost of Liaoning Third Medium Cities Infrastructure Project and it intends to apply part of the proceeds of this loan to payments under the contract for Supply and Installation of Relay Pump Station and Heat Exchange Station Equipment under District Heating Component of Yingkou Economy & Technology Development Zone.

3. CNCCC International Tendering Co., Ltd. and Liaoning Tianxingjian Tendering Co., Ltd. (hereafter called “Procurement Agent”), on behalf of Yingkou Huayuan Thermodynamics Heat Supply Co., Ltd. (hereafter called “Employer”), now invite sealed bids from eligible bidders for the execution and completion of the above contract.

4. Bidding will be conducted through the international competitive bidding procedure specified in the World Bank’s Guidelines: Procurement under IBRD Loans and IDA Credits, and is open to all bidders from eligible source countries as defined in the guidelines.

5. Interested eligible bidders may obtain further information from Liaoning Tianxingjian Tendering Co., Ltd. or the Employer starting from February 6, 2009 and inspect the bidding documents at the address given below:

Liaoning Tianxingjian Tendering Co., Ltd.

Address: Liaoning Rencai Mansion, No. 50, Harbin Road, Heping District, Shenyang City, Liaoning Province 110002, China.

Tel: (86-24) 62151152 ext 8509

Fax: (86-24) 22534655

Yingkou Huayuan Thermodynamics Heat Supply Co., Ltd.

Address: Commercial Bank Mansion, No. 8, Kunlun Street, Yingkou Economy & Technology Development Zone, Liaoning Province 115007, China.

Tel: (86-417) 6281165

6. A complete set of bidding documents in English or Chinese may be purchased by interested bidders on the submission of a written application to the address above and upon payment of a nonrefundable fee of RMB1500 or USD250. The method of payment will be cash or check. The document will be sent by express mail upon payment for mail of RMB300 (domestic) or USD50 (abroad).

7. Bids must be delivered to the address below at or before 8:30 a.m. on March 24, 2009. All bids must be accompanied by a bid security of not less than 2% of Bid Price or an equivalent amount in a freely convertible currency. Late bids will be rejected. Bids will be opened in the presence of the bidders’ representatives who choose to attend at the address below at 8:30 a.m. on March 24, 2009.

Place of Bid Submission and Bid Opening:

Meeting Room, Jinhua Hotel, No. 5, Beiqi Road, Heping District, Shenyang, Liaoning Province, China

Are you interested in this Invitation for Bids opportunity in China?

China is one of the world’s great growth markets and is likely to be for many years to come. Foreign companies often face difficulties in assessing Chinese market demand and enacting effective strategies because of the language barriers, culture differences, and high expense.

BPOVIA is the pioneering virtual assistant and Knowledge process outsourcing (KPO) service provider in China. Combines international perspective with local know-how, BPOVIA can provide our clients China business development service and help our clients doing successful business in China.

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The projects that setting up and operating about 1,700 km in 15 cities by 2015 while other cities getting a green light will spend at least 600 billion yuan ($88 billion), according to the report.

Liu shijin, deputy chief of the centre said last Friday that the unexampled scale of urban rail construction is essential to meet domestic demand.

Insiders said in 1999, most ongoing rail transit construction projects were approved when some of China’s mega-cities were facing problems relating to rapid urbanization, a dilative population and worsening traffic.

Because of the government demanding for high population and financial revenue, several other cities with subway plans gave up starting plan, insiders added.

As deputy director of Institute of Spatial Planning and Regional Economy under the National Development and Reform Commission Xiao Jincheng’s words, which were quoted by Beiing Times, in the current situation, with urbanization continuing to accelerate and domestic demand increasing inexorably, it is possible the government will lower minimum requirements to give more cities the go ahead.

He also emphasized the importance of minimum requirements. Because now too many cities are eager to build lines which would unbalance spending and revenue.

If all the rail plans in these cities are approved, the spending will be over 1 trillion yuan. After the starting of these plans, the cost will be higher.

According to relevant report, nowadays, building 1 km subway in Beijing spends 800 million yuan, while which only spent 100 million yuan several years ago. So cities those are rich and with more than 4 million citizens should build subways or light as fast as possible to avoid the growing cost.

The report said that by the end of 2006, nine cities including Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou had built 20 rail transit lines, extending 545 km in length. Up to now, there are 37 other projects under construction in the whole country which are totally 1,000 km in length and involving about 300 billion yuan of investment.

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However, not everyone agrees with the award. Liang Benfu, a researcher with the Research Centre for Urban Environment and Development under the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said, “Beijing has achieved huge economic and social progress since it launched it’s the reform and opening up policies, and the Olympic Games in August helped showcase Beijing’s glamour and Chinese culture.”

“But I doubt anyone would use the word ‘most’ to describe Beijing in terms of being an equitable city,” he said. He emphasized that there is a huge gap in living standards between Beijing’s rural area that is outside the sixth ring road and urban area that is inside the second ring road. However, the government is trying to bridge the gap. “And once positive policies are in place, I believe the inequalities can be largely eradicated in the future,” he added.

Chen Bin, a shanghai-based media commentator, said Beijing can only realize equality by eliminating policy barrier and creating better conditions for people without hukou. He said, Beijingers who have the household registration enjoy much more favorable conditions with respect to education and social welfare than those who do not, and that create inequality.

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China is one of the world’s great growth markets and is likely to be for many years to come. Foreign companies often face difficulties in assessing Chinese market demand and enacting effective strategies because of the language barriers, culture differences, and high expense.

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However, according to the report, the city was also facing a shortage of resources and manpower that might affect its future development.

The institute studied the competitiveness of 289 cities in terms of their business and financial market development, educational levels and technological advancement, among other things. Shanghai and Beijing came in second and third.

Hong Kong also took the top spot for being a world-class cosmopolitan city, followed by Beijing and Shanghai.

It was said that Beijing’s international image had been strengthened through the process of preparing this year’s Olympics. The cooperation between Hong Kong and Shenzhen won praise as the most outstanding example of how cities can collaborate to aid their mutual development.

The SAR government was also named the country’s most honest.

Institute chairman Gui Qiangfang said though Hong Kong was unlikely to lose the top spot any time soon, but the city could not afford to rest on its laurels as it had fallen from fourth place in 2006 to sixth last year for competitive growth.

He said the latest findings did not indicate Hong Kong’s competitiveness was declining, but rather how the development of other cities had intensified.

He added that Hong Kong needed to maintain its own legal system and free economy, and cooperate with mainland cities in hi-tech industries to offset the impact caused by its shortage of resources and manpower.

Institute vice-chairman Raymond Tse urged mainland authorities to relax the restriction on capital flows to Hong Kong. “Hong Kong will benefit a great deal if it can absorb capital from the mainland,” he said.

Are you interested in the business opportunities in China?

China is one of the world’s great growth markets and is likely to be for many years to come. Foreign companies often face difficulties in assessing Chinese market demand and enacting effective strategies because of the language barriers, culture differences, and high expense.

BPOVIA is the leading virtual assistant and Knowledge process outsourcing (KPO) service provider in China. BPOVIA is the only virtual assistant company ever been nominated for the prestigious “Red Herring 100 Asia” Awards 2008. Combines international perspective with local know-how, BPOVIA can provide our clients China business development service and help our clients doing successful business in China.

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