China plans to introduce a wider licensing scheme for all users of sea resources. The system, which stimulates that all individuals and organizations, whether Chinese or foreign, must apply for licenses to use resources from the sea. The new system is to be seriously implemented in the next one to two years. Licenses will be extended to cover at least 80$ of sea-related activities in most regions of the country, which has an 18,000-kilometer-long coastline, according to Wang Zhone, vice-director of the Sea Use Management Section of the State Oceanographic Bureau. 15,000-odd licenses have been issued so far, covering a sea area of about 2.5 million hectares. However, the current licenses only cover about 20 of marine activities in the country. Local branches of the bureau have been urged to complete a survey on the use of sea resources in their areas before July. To stop the drain of the country's marine resources, the bureau and the Ministry of Finance jointly issued a regulation on sea use in 1993, which required licenses for the first time.

To strengthen the regulation, the bureau is preparing a draft law which is expected to be submitted for discussion to the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress this year. It is hoped the law will stop the excessive and uncontrolled use of sea resources and will play an important role in protecting them. The country's marine industries have developed very quickly in recent years. The output value of China's major marine industry is more than doubled every 10 years since 1949, when New China was founded. Statistics indicate that China collected 365 billion yuan ($44 billion) from its major marine industries in 1999, 7.8£¥ more than the previous year. China has listed the development of marine industries as one of its top priority for the Ninth Five-Year Plan (l996-2000). It has spent 360 million yuan ($43.5 million) on the industry, mainly in marine prospecting, marine biology and the exploration and development of marine resources. The State will invest even more in the field during this five-year plan (200l-2005).

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China plans to further open its mining sector to the rest of the world by allowing foreign companies to inspect local mineral resources in the western regions either independently or accompanied by local partners in the field, Shou Jiahua, vice-minister of land and resources said recently. Foreign investors are being encouraged to inspect and mine mineral resources except oil and gas. They can also enjoy priority to gain the right to mine the resources they have prospected in mining, and are free to transfer their rights of inspection and mining in accordance with the law. The announcement is part of plan the ministry is working on for developing land resources in the western part of the country. Foreign enterprises are welcome to conduct risk exploration. Meanwhile, China encourages foreign investors to comprehensively utilize mineral resources and will reduce by half or exempt them from mineral resources compensation fees. Foreign investors prospecting and mining mineral resources in the western area may, apart from the preferential policies the government has already granted to the west development drive, also have the prospecting and mining right use fees exempted in the first year and have it cut by half in the second year. Solely foreign firms or cooperative firms or joint ventures mining minerals encouraged by the Industrial Guide List to Foreign Investors will be exempted from mineral resources compensation fees for five years. Government departments of all levels are forbidden to launch cooperative or joint venture mines, to produce irrational economic demands for foreign investors, to investigate arbitrarily, to make unjustified financial levies and to increase charges extra to those laid down in the rules and regulations.

China will develop an international competitive, open, and environment-friendly mining industry compatible with the demands of a market economy, and the country will shift the focus of its mining industry to western areas step by step. Karin Flinelston, country manager of the International Finance Corporation and the World Bank, said that the World Bank and other foreign companies are willing to undertake, long-term cooperation with the western part of China and help improve the investment environment, in the form of financing. Sources with the Ministry of Land and Resources said that the country will invite bidding for the development of the newly discovered copper reserves in eastern Tianshan Mountains in Xinjiang.

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China is making a substantial revision of its Patent Law for the second time in order to comply with WTO rules. The Standing Committee of the National people's Congress recently adopted the revision and the revised Patent Law is expected to take effect on July 1 this year. The amended Patent Law intensifies patent protection, simplifies examination and approval procedures for patent applications and optimizes regulations related to the Patent Law on the basis of the Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS). China's Patent Law was put into effect on April 1, 1984. The first amendment of the law in 1992 expanded the scale of protected technology and prolonged the period of three kinds of patent protection, which brought China into initial compliance with the requirement of TRIPS.

Jiang Ying, director of the State Intellectual Property Office, said that China's pending accession to the WTO has brought about many new questions concerning patent protection in the fields of emerging technologies such as bio-technology and information technology which are developing rapidly. Rapid growth of applications for patents related to emerging technologies have posed great pressures and challenges on the existing patent examination capability and technical support systems. After the revision, the Patent Law will be more consistent with international standards and comply better with the domestic conditions and the rules of the WTO. The revision will be an important milestone in the development of China's patent undertakings, and China will fully honor its international commitments, provide greater protection over intellectual property rights, and foster an effective intellectual property protection mechanism domestically.

According to Jiang, the current revision of the Patent Law involves 36 articles, and the contents mainly include the following aspects:

l. To make clear that state enterprises and institutions and other economic entities enjoy the same rights and obligations when applying for and obtaining patents;

2. To re-define in-service invention, and to provide by-laws that include rewards being granted to in-service inventors;

3. To improve judicial and administrative law enforcement in the field of patent, insisting that the judicial and administrative law enforcement mode of ¡°two channels coordinated in operation" shall be continued to provide greater protection of patents;

4. To simplify and improve the procedures for approval and right protection of patents to safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of interested parties;

5. To make China's Patent Law comply with the standards of TRIPS through revision in order to create a better patent law environment for China's entry into the WTO;

6. To put forward specific requirements on Patent approval and patent administration, in order to build a staff who are diligent, honest, practical and efficient.

Jiang also disclosed that the State Intellectual Property Office has begun to formulate supporting rules and regulations such as the Implementing Rules and the Examination Guide to ensure smooth implementation of the revised Patent Law this year.

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China will speed up the opening-up of its telecommunications sector to create a level playing field for all network operators and equipment providers, and the formulation of related laws and rules will also be accelerated for better regulation of the market, said recently Vice-Premier Wu Bangguo. The construction of telecommunication infrastructure on the Chinese mainland will be further enhanced and the application of advanced technology, such as information technology, strengthened in traditional industries to boost productivity. Wu called for an international exchange of, and cooperation in, telecoms and IT technologies to bridge the digital gap. The telecom industry has seen the fastest growth in the mainland's economy. There are already more than 200 million telephone users on the mainland. The mainland market is expected to grow even more after China's entry into the WTO.

In a historical step designed to further open up the nation's tightly-controlled telecommunications market to foreign competition, China has given the go-ahead for AT&T, the largest US telecom operator, to set up a $25 million broadband Internet joint venture in Shanghai. AT£¦T will have 25£¥ stake of the joint venture, Shanghai Symphony Telecom Co Ltd, with the remaining shares going to Shanghai Telecom, the Shanghai subsidiary of China Telecom and Shanghai Information Investment Inc. The joint venture makes AT£¦T the first foreign player in China's telecom sector, which analysts believe will strengthen foreign confidence to pump billions of dollars into potentially the world's largest telecom market. Analysts said the deal will serve as a role model for foreign investors in the state-gripped market and other foreign firms are expected to follow the AT£¦T example when China enters the WTO.

China has, for a long time, banned foreign investment in the telecom business, citing concerns about the exposure of state secrets and the inability of domestic telecom operators to compete effectively against foreign competitors. However, foreign investors have pinned their hopes on entering the telecom services market in China as cut-throat competition in the telecom equipment market among global giants like Nokia, Ericsson, Motorola, Lucent and Alcatel has watered down profit margins. There are good news that China has been moving towards a solid legal frame work for foreign investment. One of the most striking efforts was a new rule in last September which defined the telecom business areas and the role of foreign investors. Basic telecom services like fixed-lines, satellite and mobile networks are still off limits. But foreigners can now get up to a 49£¥ stake in joint ventures with Chinese firms in some areas including Internet access, e-mails and data transmission.

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China has set targets for economic developmentin 2001 during the Central Economic Working Conference that ended on November 30, 2000. The conference noted that the country will continue with its strategy of expanding domestic demand and enhancing macro-economic control. Since China's advantage lies in its huge domestic market, the conference agreed that basing growth on an increase in domestic demand will give the economy more room to maneuver and enhance its ability to face intensifying competition in the international market and changes in the world economy. The conference pointed out that carrying out a proactive fiscal policy is an important measure adopted to expand domestic demand. It admitted inadequate demand is still a problem for this country. Therefore, measures the government has adopted to make investment from the private sector and consumption the driving force of economic growth will take time to have a real effect.

The tasks for economic work in 2001 are as follows:

1. To strengthen the primary status of agriculture in the national economy and make efforts to increase farmers' incomes;

2. To make greater efforts to readjust and optimize industrial structures;

3. To further reform state-owned enterprises;

4. To further improve the social security system and expand employment opportunities;

5. To continue the proactive fiscal policy;

6. To continue the stable monetary policy;

7. To promote the strategy of developing the western areas of China in a bid to seek balanced regional development;

8. To further China's opening-up to the outside world;

9. To boost scientific and technological progress and strengthen the training of personnel;

10. To take substantial measures to improve management, and regulate and standardize the market order.

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China's foreign trade volume is expected to reach $475 billion in 2000. Newly released customs statistics indicate that goods and services worth $430.9 billion were traded with other countries in the first 11 months of 2000, up 33$ from the same period of the previous year. The country exported $227.2 billion worth of goods and services and imported $203.7 billion in the first 11 months of 2000, up 30.1$ and 37.4$ from comparable months of 1999 respectively. In the same period, China made $25.3 billion in trade surplus. The country's foreign trade in November was worth $43.8 billion, including $22.16 billion worth of exports and $21.64 billion of imports. The Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation (MOFTEC) and the Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation released earlier in December their first joint report, which estimated that China's foreign trade is likely to reach $455 billion in 2000 and increase 8$ in 2001.

China's export industry now has managed to crawl out of the shadow of the 1997 Southeast Asian financial tumult. The country's exports to Japan, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and South Korea rose 32.4$, 45.3$ and 54.2$ respectively. State enterprises and foreign-invested companies are still the two main forces behind China's rapidly increasing exports, but exports made by non-state enterprises are also growing at a fast rate. Exports from non-state enterprises increased 79.3$ in the first three quarters of 2000. Increases in processing trade and foreign investment in China also pushed up imports by foreign-invested companies. Those imports rose 41$ year-on-year in the first three quarters of 2000.

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Sichuan aims to become an economically strong province in West China. The goal is in line with the central government's western development strategy. Since China adopted its reform and opening up policies in 1978, Sichuan has seen rapid economic development. But due to its unfavorable location in the hinterland, huge population and weak economic foundation, the gap between Sichuan and the coastal provinces has widened. In 1978, Sichuan's GDP was close to that of Guangdong and Shandong Province. In 1999, the two provinces' GDPs were 2.3 times and twice as much as that of Sichuan respectively. Sichuan's GDP ranked sixth in the country in 1978. In 1999, it ranked only 10th.

A large agricultural province since ancient times, Sichuan is one of China's major grain bases. But its farming practices are not high-tech. It used to focus on feeding its huge population rather than increasing people's income. Sichuan had inadequate pillar industries. Its major industries were formed during the so-called Third Line Construction period in the late 1960s and the early 1970s, when China moved its industries from the coast to the interior in the interest of national defense. Lacking flexible operating mechanisms, the industries are not competent in the marketplace. Sichuan has 43 institutions of higher learning and 4,000-plus scientific research institutions employing 1.1 million scientific and technological professionals, including 45 academicians with the Chinese Academy of Science and Chinese Academy of Engineering. But many are divorced from the market and are not marketable products. To be an economically strong province in West China, Sichuan would strive to have its per capita GDP surpass last year's national average by 2005 and catch up the national average for 2001 by 2010.

To reach that goal, it would accelerate infrastructure construction. Sichuan now has 800 kilometers of expressways, the longest in West China. It plans to increase the number to 1,700 kilometers by 2005. It plans to boost agricultural industrialization by building many bases featuring famous, excellent and unique farm products. It will rely on high and new technologies to transform traditional industries and build six pillar industries, such as hydropower, electronic information, mechanical metallurgy, medical chemicals, tourism and foodstuff to prop up its economic development. Sichuan's exploitable water resources are 110 million kilowatts, ranking the first in China. In a recent report, the World Tourism Organization designated Sichuan as a prime destination for ecological and cultural tourism in China, because the province is endowed with world-class ecological tourism resources and bountiful historical and cultural sites. Twenty-four sites in China are included on UNESCO's List of World Heritage Sites. Three of them are in Sichuan. They are Jiuzhaigou, Huanglong and the Mount E'mei-Leshan Giant Buddha.

Located on the upper reaches of the Yangtze River, Sichuan is known as the ¡°land of abundance." The province is rich in natural resources. A total of 132 minerals have been explored in the region, and the reserves of 46 among them rank the top five in the country It has the largest reserves of vanadium and rare-earth metal in the world. Sichuan has abundant tourist resources. About 85£¥ of the world's rare giant panda inhabit in the province. Sichuan has eight national scenic areas and 40 national natural preserves. The province is the largest market and material distribution center in West China. In 1992, Chengdu was recognized by the State Council as Southwest China's center of science, technology, commerce, trade and finance, and a hub of transportation and communications. Relying on its tremendous market potential, technological strength, cheap and abundant labor, tourist resources and advanced finance, Sichuan is an appealing place for domestic and overseas investors.

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Shanghai's industrial sector will be promoted to global investors by a new policy package that will be introduced soon to encourage the inflow of more foreign investment. The new policies will fundamentally change the previous technology-focused involvement by foreign firms in the petrochemical and steel sectors, because they will now join hands with Chinese companies to cover all links of the production chain. Overseas investment will make a major contribution to the construction of the city's Caojing Chemical Zone, which is due to be completed in 2010 and will absorb a total investment of 120 billion yuan ($14.5 billion). In addition, the city will encourage more overseas investors to buy assets in state-owned enterprises and turn them into joint ventures or wholly foreign-owned firms. A highlight of the policy package is that overseas capital is encouraged to acquire shares of listed state-owned companies and joint ventures are endorsed to acquire capital in domestic stock markets. While promising government services will be up-graded for overseas investors, the city envisioned increased dependence on financial and other intermediary operators in the future to lure overseas investment and business into the city, high-lighting information technology and other high-tech sectors.

Shanghai is moving closer to becoming one of Asia's high-tech hubs. Altera Corporation, a leading global programmable logic device (PLD) supplier, has become the latest multinational firm which plans to set up a technological application center in the city, the first ever to offer tailor-made technological solutions for clients in the Asia-Pacific region. Altera is following on the heels of many high-tech titans, including lntel, Alcatel and Lucent, that have already set up research and development centers in the city, either targeting in China market or the Asia-Pacific region. Analysts expect more foreign high-tech firms to invest in Shanghai as a result of a series of incentives newly hammered out by the city, including financial support, tax rebates and less red-tape for overseas companies. Shanghai attaches great importance to high-tech industries, especially telecommunications, the Internet and e-business. Altera's New Applications Engineering Center is part of its growing network of global technical support centers designed to provide the service to worldwide customers.

Shanghai will increase efforts to speed customs clearances in an attempt to maintain momentum in exports, especially those from overseas-funded companies. The latest figures show that the $11.5 billion worth of goods shipped out by overseas funded firms in the first 10 months in 2000 accounted for 55$ of the city's total exports. The exports growth was in large part due to foreign investment that brought high-tech products to the city. In the same period, Shanghai drew $4.1 billion in future contracts for foreign investment, up 16.7£¥ year-on-year. Foreign investment actually received amounted to $2.57 billion. In total, 1,500 overseas-invested commercial projects were approved, up 21.2$. The exports of high-tech electrical products and machinery rose 44.1$to $9.85 billion. Benefiting from increasing global demand, exports by domestic companies increased 39.8$ to $9.33 billion. Total shipment in the first 10 months in 2000 were valued at $20.8 billion, up 38.3$ from a year ago. Imports over the same period rose even more rapidly. They were valued at $23.79 billion, up 55.95$ year-on-year.

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Changye, an ancient cultural city of state-class, is located in the west of Gansu Province. It is a modernized open city led by high technologies and tourism, supported by modern agriculture and processing industry and focusing on tertiary industry in its development. The city now is inviting foreign investment for the following key projects:

l. Urban central heating. The city plans to build up four l68 MW centers for supplying heat to an area of 2.6 million sq m. Form: joint equity or cooperative venture. Investment: RMB75.88 million.

2. Sewage treatment: The city plans to built up an 8-tons sewage treatment plant. Investment: RMB l50 million. Form: joint equity or cooperative venture.

3. Comprehensive agricultural development project in Suyoukou irrigation district. The city plans to build up a reservoir with a storage capacity of 8.36 million cu m, a 300 km supplementary canal system and the development of 6,700 ha of farmland. Investment: RMBl24 million. Form: joint equity or cooperative venture.

4. Dongdashan tourism and game zone. The city plans to develop a zone of tourism and game covering an area of over 22,8l0 ha of land including 5,04l ha of forests. Investment: RMB86 million. Form: JV or solely-owned venture.

5. Vegetable dehydration and deep processing line. Ganlu Dehydrated Vegetables Group plans to build up a production line for dehydrating vegetables and deep processing condiments. Investment: RMB l1 million. Form: joint equity or cooperative venture.

6. A production line for deep processing potatoes. The Yunian Group plans to build up a production line for deep processing potatoes with an annual capacity of 200,000 tons including fine starch l20,000 tons, modified starch 60,000 tons, granular powder 5,000 tons, snow-flake powder l50,000 tons. Investment: RMB550 million. Form: JV or solely-owned venture.

7. Phthalocyanine blue dyestuff production line. The city plans to stall a production line for l,000 tons fine copper products annually. Investment: RMBl24 million. Form: JV or solely owned venture.

8. Production line for vacuum freezing and drying food. The city plans to build up a production line for freezing and drying 5,000 tons of beef, spring onions, and sweet and hot carrots a year. Investment: RMB70 million. Form: joint equity or cooperative venture.

9. Grass dregs production line. The city plans to create a production line to produce l00,000 tons of grass dregs a year. Investment: RMB200 million. Form: joint equity or cooperative venture.

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During the last decade, Nanchang High-Tech Industrial Development Zone has become the most prosperous sector in the Jiangxi economic structure. In the run-up to the new millennium, the zone is eager to cooperate with foreign and domestic investors to create new wealth. In 1999, the zone generated a total income of 5.4 billion yuan ($650 million) in technology industry and trade. The total industrial output topped 4.2 billion yuan ($506 million). Located in the eastern part of Nanchang City, the capital of Jiangxi Province, the zone was founded in 1991 and one year later was approved as a state-level high-tech industrial zone by the State Council. During the past 10 years, 860 million yuan ($104 million) has been spent on the construction of three square kilometers of a new industrial area. The main industries are electronics, modern chemical, new material, in-depth processing of food, biopharmaceutical, and the integration of optics, mechanics and electrics.

Foreign investment has helped the zone grow. To date, 79 foreign companies have set up business there. Together with domestic enterprises, a high-tech group consisting of collective-run firms, shareholding companies and joint ventures has been formed. The zone is home to a dozen colleges and research institutes. In partnership with them,the zone has set up several technological parks.

Jinlu Software Park, listed in the State Torch Plan, is located on the bank of beautiful Aixi Lake. It is designed to create an intellectual and ecological garden and offer a perfect place for individuals to work and live in the 21st century. Jiangxi High-Tech Industrial Development Center (also called Jiangxi Incubator Park for Returned Scholars), is a base for workers educated abroad to set up high-tech enterprises. The incubator park, now under construction and expected to cater for 100 enterprises, will enjoy the policy of nesting and feeding" A support system has been set up to aid the various enterprises and help them set up business in the zone within seven working days.(to be continued)

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China's accelerating urbanization rate and industrial boom mean that the country needs to develop more urban waste water treatment facilities and introduce advanced sewage disposal technologies. The amount of waste water discharged in China's urban areas came to 40.1 billion cubic meters in 1999. However, for every 1 million people there is only one sewage plant on average. This figure compares badly with that of some advanced countries, where there is one sewage plant for every 10,000 people. To date, the country's urban waste water treatment plants number nearly 400, which means that about 30£¥ of sewage can be treated, according to Lu Xinyuan, a division director of the State Environmental Protection Administration.

By the year 2010, when the country's urbanization rate is projected to have reached 40£¥, China plans to raise the amount of waste water it can treat to at least 50£¥ in urban areas and 70£¥ in its key cities. Most of the waterworks and sewage treatment plants constructed between 1989 and 1997 in China used foreign funds and imported equipment. Although China intends to use an increasing amount of locally made equipment and locally raised funds to build its major water treatment facilities, the country will continue to use foreign capital and import applicable expertise and equipment. A great many international financial groups and enterprises are already competing for rights to build and operate waste water treatment projects in China. The country particularly welcomes the participation of foreign businesses in the development of dephosphorization and denitrification technology and of technologies for the treatment of water with a high concentration of organic waste. In addition to closing down backward andpolluting firms, China intends to highlight the research into and development of advanced technology -- especially in the bioengineering sphere -- to treat water pollution caused by dye, farm chemicals and pharmaceutical industries.

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The wind power industry in China is expected to open to foreign investors soon, according to sources from the State Development Planning Commission. For the first time, the central government will invite international tendering for a pilot 100,000-kilowatt wind power project. The Commisssion's Basic Industries Department plans to build a 100,000-kilowatt wind farm within the next five years. The State Power Corporation of China will be responsible for inviting international tendering for the project. The corporation has proposed five wind farms each with an annual generating capacity of 100,000 kilowatts. The foreign investor who wins the bid will be allowed to establish a joint venture or a wholly owned wind farm. Electricity from the farms will go to local electricity networks, competing with electricity from otherª²sources.

The price of the electricity will be quoted by the tender winner and will not change in 15 year. But the price would be low to ensure competition on the networks. The corporation will set a maximum price for the electricity from the wind farms. The Commission and the State Administration of Taxation are also considering preferential taxation policies for wind farm. Energy analysts say that wind power, an inexhaustible and clean resource, will play an important role in China and will increase to 1 million kilowatts by the end of 2000, compared with 17,000 kilowatts in 1999.

A major boost will be given to the development of wind power to benefit 23 million people living in backcountry areas or on the coastal islands by 2010. The interior areas and coastal islands boast abundant wind-power resources, but are short of other resources like coal and water for power generation. The benefited areas include the western and eastern parts of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, the northern part of Qinghai Province, eastern and northern parts of Inner Mongolia, and the northeastern parts of Jilin and Hellongjiang provinces. The islands are in the coastal provinces of Hainan, Guangdong, FujianZhejiang, Jiangsu, Shandong and Liaoning. The State will take measures to support the development of wind power. Imports of wind-power equipment will be duty-free and the electricity generated from wind-power projects will be for sale. Foreign investments in the development of wind-power resources will be welcomed. In the past few years, about $200 million, or 60£¥ of the total funds for the country's development of wind power resources, have come from foreign direct investment schemes.

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As a key provincial development Zone, the Huzhou Economic and Technological Development Zone of Zhejiang Province has the Huzhou Taiwan Investment Zone, the Taihu-Lake-Rim Comprehensive Agricultural Development Zone for Foreign Investment, and the Taihu Tourist and Holiday Zone, dividing into six functional blocks, namely, the Fenghuang Western District, the Fenghuang Eastern Part, the Yangjiabu Heavy and Chemical Industry Zone, Xisai Port and Storage Zone, the Renhuangshan New Area, and the Taihu Tourist and Holiday Zone. Boasting geographical advantages, the zone is located in the center of the Yangtse River delta. 1n the eight years of its operation, the zone has invested more than RMB l.2 billion in infrastructure construction. Currently, the infrastructure facilities in the industrial and trade zone can fully satisfy the need of various investment.

Boasting a solid foundation of industry, the zone has made great efforts to attract foreign investment to flow mainly into industrial sector and high-tech industry. In addition to its traditional industries of silk, textile and building materials, it has put stress on five key sectors for investors. They are: new materials, mechanic-electric integration, new medicines, light and textile industry, and environmental protection. At present, a group of industrial enterprises involving investment from home and abroad have set foot on the land of the zone. They mainly engage in production, packing and printing machinery, medicine and chemical, precision machinery, mechanic-electric integration, and knitwear. The strategy put forward by the zone is to attract investment, rely on industry, tourism and science and technology in development. By the end of June, 2000, the zone had 493 projects launched, with a total investment of RMB9.2 billion. Of which, 98 are foreign funded, with a total investment of $480 million and contractual foreign funds of $280 million. The actual paid-in foreign funds posted $l30 million.

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The exhibition industry, which came into existence in 1978, has grown quickly in recent years. The country hosted 1,326 exhibitions in 1999. Among them, the number of international exhibitions amounted to 694, compared to just six foreign fairs in 1978. The country also took part in 292 overseas exhibitions in 1999, compared with 21 in 1978. According to preliminary estimates, various exhibitions have created exports totaling more than $34 billion in the past 10 years. The volume of domestic trade has reached 12 billion yuan ($1.45 billion). Annual trade volume of the exhibitions hosted by the China International Exhibition Center (CIEC) is estimated at 25 billion yuan ($3.02 billion). The industry is now playing an active role in China's service industry acting as an important market for commodities, technologies, information and capital.

To compete for the profitable market, many exhibition centers and companies have mush-roomed up. After the Beijing-based CIEC opened in 1984, similar facilities emerged in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Dalian. China currently boasts 147 exhibition halls. Industry insiders attributed the rapid development of the exhibition industry to sound profits and chain benefits. The exhibition industry is widely regarded as an environmentally friendly industry with high rewards. The profit margin of the industry can reach more than 25£¥. In big cities which hosted many exhibitions, their urban construction, trade, tourism, telecommunications and transportation sectors have witnessws great improvement. The profits of related industries such as hotels, travel and transportation agencies may hit nine times that of the exhibitions. For example, the total income of the tourism industry in Yunnan Province increased 50£¥ thanks to the International Horticulture Expo 2000. Over 300 economic cooperative projects were signed at the fair. The exhibitions also provide an ideal stage and convenient business channel for companies.

More than 6 million Chinese people attend international exhibitions each year. With such a large population, China is a huge potential market for exhibitions. Some international exhibitions hosted by China have enjoyed strong global reputations. Beijing has an area of 112,000 square meters available for exhibitions. CIEC, the flagship of China's exhibition industry boasts an indoor exhibition area of 60,000 square meters. However Chinese exhibition facilities still lag behind advanced countries. The country's exhibition halls are too small for a successful world fair. Even medium-sized exhibition halls in Germany cover more than 200,000 square meters.

China's second exihibition fair, 2001 InterExop China, will take place in the Beijing from January 9 to 11, 2001. A symposium will be held at the same time on the challenges and opportunities that will face China's exhibition industry after the country's access into the WTO, the prospects and development plans of the industry, online exhibitions, electrronic commerce and legal issues concerning exhibitions. The fair aims to nurture the healthy, orderly and rapid development of China's exhibition industry.

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The China National Offshore Oil Corp (CNOOC) and Kerr-McGee Corp inked a contract recently to jointly explore a block for oil in the Bohai Bay in northern China. It was the fourth contract inked between CNOOC and an overseas company in 2000. The latest block, named 09/18 contracted block, is located in the west part of the Bohai Bay around 60 kilometers from the Tanggu Port of Tianjin. It covers an area of 2,255 square kilometers. Under the contract, Kerr-McGee will shoulder all exploration risks and conduct well-drilling undertakings during the exploration period. The contract said Kerr-McGee will drill one well in the first exploration phase, and more exploration undertakings will be launched gradually. If any valuable findings are uncovered, CNOOC will acquire 51£¥ shares of the block's benefits.

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South Korea-based Samsung Electronics plans to expand in China's mobile phone market by the end of 2000, aiming to become a major system and terminal supplier for the next generation of mobile communication. The company launched its new upmarket mobile phone model, called Anycall SGHA188, in Shanghai in October. The model, which won 2000's Hanover Product Design Award, one of the world's most prestigious prizes for industrial designs, will be sold for about 6,000 yuan ($720)--nearly the most expensive in China's mainland market. Currently, Nokia, Motorola and Ericsson occupy about 80£¥ of the mainland market. Another Sumsung model, which can download music from the Internet, was introduced to China in November. Samsung also is in talks with a domestic company in Tianjin on jointly establishing its production base in the city. The new venture is expected to start operation in 2001.

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Japan's Koizumi Sangyo Corp and the Taiwan-based Bright International Group Ltd--two giants in the lighting industry--recently expanded their market shares in the Chinese mainland by setting up their joint venture Beijing Bright Koizumi Technology Lighting Co Ltd. The company is aimed to design, produce and install high-quality lighting equipment to create a safe, healthy, energy-saving and environmentally friendly habitat. The firm has also set up a Technology Lighting Club in Beijing, where customers can experience lighting effects created by various methods and equipment. The company plans to establish such clubs in other major cities including Shanghai, Guangzhou, Chengdu, Xi'an and Shenyang.

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