Fortune in Beijing

This month and next, we will continue to update you on plans and arrangements for the 2005 FORTUNE Global Forum, to be held in Beijing from May 16-18, the ninth event in the series. The forum's keynote speaker at the Temple of Heaven on the evening of May 16 will be Chinese President Hu Jintao, who will speak to more than 300 chief executives and dignitaries from around the world.

They will include business leaders from corporations including General Motors, HSBC, Samsung, Disney, e-Bay, Qualcomm, and Infosys. Also present will be more than 200 Chinese Government ministers, high-level scholars, and leading domestic entrepreneurs.

As with previous forums, overseas participants can bring their spouses to Beijing. While their partners are attending the forum, the spouses will be taken on guided tours of famous sites so they might gain greater insight into the wonders of the Chinese culture.

Galaxy of International Business Leaders on Rostrum

In addition to Chinese President Hu Jintao, major confirmed speakers at the 2006 FORTUNE Global Forum constitute a Who's Who of global big business and the Chinese political and economic leadership. They will be joined by personalities from the academic and publishing worlds.

Confirmed speakers as of April 1 were:

·        Vice-Premier Zeng Peiyan

·        Minister of Commerce Bo Xilai

·        SCIO Minister Zhao Qizheng

·        Beijing Mayor Wang Qishan

·        Edward Breen, chairman and CEO, Tyco International

·        Louis Camilleri, chairman and CEO, Altria Group

·        Hernando de Soto, president, Institute for Liberty and Democracy

·        Jiang Jianqing, chairman and president, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China

·        John B. Menzer, president and CEO, Wal-Mart International

·        Nandan Nilekani, CEO, president and managing director, Infosys Technologies

·        Helmut Panke, chairman of the Board of Management, BMW

·        Henry Paulson Jr., chairman and CEO, Goldman Sachs Group

·        Charles Prince, CEO, Citigroup

·        Xie Qihua, chairman and president, Shanghai Baosteel Group Corporation

·        G. Richard Wagoner, president and CEO, General Motors Corporation

·        Zhang Xin, co-CEO, SOHO China

·        Edward Zander, chairman and CEO, Motorola Incorporated

·        Ermenegildo Zegna, CEO, Zegna Group

Speeches will also be delivered by Rik Kirkland, managing editor, FORTUNE magazine; and Robert Bierman, executive director of the magazine's Conference Division.

Round-table Meetings on Sports and Culture

Separate round-table meetings on sports and culture will be held during the forum under the theme "China and the New Asian Century".  

The sports talk-in was inspired by Beijing's winning the bid to host the 2008 Olympic Games and the resultant huge new national interest in sports generally. It suits a Chinese Government that is urging all its citizens to keep fit and, when possible, to become involved in sporting pursuits. With the approaching Games, it is inevitable that "sports" has become one of the hottest words in Beijing and throughout the country.

The Beijing Games also present rich investment opportunities for domestic and overseas companies, hence FORTUNE's choice of the subject as one of the forum's two topics. Highlights of the discussions on cultural matters and affairs will include the roles of the media, telecommunications, educational institutions, and the fast-emerging high-end and luxury property sectors. 

Also covered will be the continuous movement of large numbers of people from China's countryside to cities, the social changes that ensue and the need to meet their physical and spiritual needs.      

'Red Carpet' Welcome for Forum Spouses

Official overseas visitors to the Beijing forum are delighted to know that their spouses, should they wish, can accompany them and enjoy conducted tours of major city sites and learn something about China and its colourful, 3,000-year history. FORTUNE Global Forum organizers have drawn up a special programme for these guests that is expected to influence future forum spousal programmes and other major international get-togethers taking place in China or elsewhere.

An official of the organizing committee said: "When Beijing was chosen as the venue for the ninth forum, we talked with the municipal government and we came up with a special programme that will give the spouses a good insight to the capital's past and present. Beijing is a city that lies at the core of oriental culture. The spouses' tour is designed to take in places of great historic and cultural interest, including the modern."

The spouses will have various options on where they wish to go, and what they would like to see. Full programme:

Monday, May 16

Climbing the 'Wild' Great Wall

While the Badaling section of the Great Wall is a "must-see" tourist site, less familiar to most people is the "wild" stretch of the Wall. Today still in its original form, it has never been subjected to rebuilding or other treatment. Thus it can still be enjoyed as it was at the start of its existence. Usually far from crowded with visitors, it is more difficult to climb than other sections.

Thus visitors are advised to wear hiking footwear - light, cord-soled shoes with a canvas upper. And they will take their one-hour rail trip from Beijing aboard a train once exclusively used by Chairman Mao Zedong. With the spouses will be William Lindsey, an expert who has been researching the Great Wall since 1987, who will deliver a detailed history of the Wall.

Participants will then have lunch at the Commune by the Great Wall, which won the Special Award in Architecture at the 2002 Venice Biennale. Featuring 11 villas of different designs, the commune showcases the distinctive styles of 11 famed Asian architects. Fashion shows, celebrations and media conferences are often held at the commune.

The main honour, however, will come in the evening, when forum participants and their spouses will attend the event's opening ceremony and banquet at the Temple of Heaven - an evening in the company of Chinese President Hu Jintao.

The next two days are planned to be equally eventful for the spouses:

Tuesday, May 17

The spouses will have the option of meeting more ordinary people and picking up further pointers to the city, the nation and the Chinese people themselves. On this day they can, if they wish, visit the Palace Museum, best known as the Forbidden City, whose construction was completed in 1422. Since that time, this magnificent edifice, the world's oldest and best-preserved largely wooden collection of buildings, has remained at the very centre of the nation's history and culture.

Morning Tour

Early in the morning, all spouses will experience a ritual known as "welcoming the emperors" at the Tai Miao, the Ancestral Temple east of the Forbidden City, and listen to music played on ancient Chinese musical instruments, along with bells too, especially the 64 Serial Bells which were first rung during the Warring States Period (464-222 BC). Masters will play taiji, and monks from the famed Shaolin Temple will perform martial arts. Breakfast will be served by waiters and waitresses wearing traditional Chinese attire.

Option 1: Date with the Emperors

Spouses will find themselves marvelling at the Forbidden City's astonishing 9,999 and one-half rooms (the "half" is in fact a short corridor that leads nowhere). The home of no less than 24 emperors during the Ming (1368-1644) and Qing (1644-1911) dynasties, the Forbidden City got its name from the fact that in olden times, ordinary people were forbidden to enter this royal palace on pain of death. 

Option 2: Meeting with Sports Stars

Spouses can visit the training centres of several top Chinese athletes who won medals at the Athens Olympics last year. They might also find themselves chatting with rising stars that are hopeful of winning events at the 2008 Beijing Games.

Lunch

Option 1: Getting to Know Chinese Art

This option will be held at a traditional Chinese turret, and combined with avant-garde Chinese art at the Red Gate Gallery in Dongbianmen Tower, run by art expert Brian Wallace, who has researched the genre for 20 years. Forum spouses will also meet some of China's leading artists, whose works are finding much appeal in the West.

Option 2: A Taste of Chinese Green Tea

Lunch can be taken at the famous Green T. House, which staff includes a famous chef. Also on hand will be restaurant owner Zhang Jinjie, who is always happy to pass on her ideas about the preparation of Chinese food.

Afternoon Tour

Option 1: Explore a Royal Garden

This trip will take you to the Summer Palace, one of six World Cultural Heritage Sites in Beijing. Spouses will witness a formal tea ceremony, and stroll along the stunning art-bedecked Long Corridor. Other popular sites at the palace include Longevity Hill and spectacular Kunming Lake. 

Option 2: A Taste of Chinese Opera

Spouses can visit Changpuhe Park and enjoy a children's performance of Chinese opera. Changpuhe was an integral part of the Forbidden City before its river was filled in. The area is now a culturally protected park called Nanchizi. A high red wall separates the serene park from bustling Chang'an Jie, Central Beijing's east-west roadway axis, which is bordered by various governmental ministries and the Great Hall of the People.

The avenue also cuts through huge Tian'anmen Square and past the main entrance to the Forbidden City, on whose rostrum hangs the huge portrait of Chairman Mao which is familiar the world over. 

A Chinese opera will be performed at the Dongyuan Theatre by students from Beijing Children's Palace. They will render a number of traditional works, notably the famous Monkey King. In addition, Ghaffar Pouzzar from Britain will demonstrate the drawing of Chinese opera faces, and how costumes are worn. Pouzzar is one of the few foreigners to graduate from Beijing Drama Academy.

Option 3: Art in Factory 798

The original role of this building, built by Russians and whose name has been retained, was as a production plant specializing in radio sets. Today it is one of Beijing's major avant-garde art areas, popular with artists because of the superb light that comes through its high ceiling windows, and equally a target of streams of visitors who like its dozens of galleries, design studios, workshops, free-standing sculptures, exhibition areas, cafes, bars, clubs, and shops that offer everything from clothes to books. There is even a publishing house.

This day will be rounded off for certain distinguished guests with a cocktail reception at the Great Hall of the People with 20 Chinese ministers or other high officials. Beijing Mayor Wang Qishan, will deliver a speech. The guests will then be invited to visit Tian'anmen Gate.

Wednesday, May 18

This day's tour for spouses will begin at the famed Lamasery Temple, a Tibetan landmark steeped in tradition and rich in artefacts, which long ago was the residence of Emperor Yongzheng (1723-1736) before he ascended to the throne. The tour includes a close-up view of a 60-foot-high Buddha statue made of sandalwood. It is the temple's most-prized treasure.

Morning Tour

Option 1: Bargains Galore!

Spouses who wish to shop will be provided with expert guides chosen by the forum organizing committee, who, once they know what the guest wishes to buy, will conduct them to reputable specialists and other stores and provide any guidance on quality and prices necessary. Beijing is something of an Aladdin's Cave for shoppers, whether one seeks handmade Chinese furniture, porcelain, pearls, silk, artworks or anything else. The experts also can advise on the fine art of bargaining, a common way of doing business at some commercial outlets.

Option 2: Strolling in Historic Hutongs

Hutongs are basically alleys, most of which are lined by courtyards known as siheyuan which contain enough dwellings to house three or four generations of a family. All the houses face a courtyard with a central tree. Many hutongs are disappearing because of redevelopment programmes, and their occupants moving into modern housing. Tourists can still visit preserved hutongs and witness the lifestyle of occupants.

Option 3: Visit to National Grand Theatre

Designed by Paul Andreu, designer of Charles de Gaulle Airport, the spectacular futuristic National Grand Theatre is set to become one of the most forward-looking landmarks in Beijing. With an opera house, concert hall and theatre, it is now nearing completion. Few ordinary Chinese have yet been able to inspect the interior of the theatre, but forum spouses may be honoured with that opportunity.