Editor's Note

There’s something somewhat new in this month’s Business Beijing: stories in the Chinese language.

Since 1994, Business Beijing has existed to provide English-language news and information about Beijing’s socio-economic development to people in China and around the world. In Beijing, the magazine is mostly distributed in four- and five-star hotels, within the diplomatic community and in places frequented by foreign businessmen and expatriates in China’s capital. However, despite the fact that we’ve put out some special bilingual issues in the past, such as for the various Beijing–Hong Kong Economic Cooperation Symposiums, Business Beijing has been primarily an English-language magazine.

“We hope the bilingual Business Beijing will serve as an even better bridge between businessmen and government officials in Beijing and the foreign investment community,” said Mercy Sun, managing editor of Beijing This Month Publications, the parent company of Business Beijing.

New Year’s lists come and go, but the list of topics we include in our “Cover Story” this month bear great attention. We have listed these issues of 2007, beginning on page 12, because they are considered important focal points within the Chinese and Beijing economies; these are issues that policy-makers will be grappling with in 2008 as well.

An emphasis will be placed on risk management in 2008, including control of inflationary pressures and soaring housing prices.

An important aspect of Beijing’s industrial transition away from resource-consuming and polluting industries to an emphasis on the services industry is the growing role of “producer services,” that is, service providers who serve producers of goods and services, not the general public (at least not directly). See our review of this increasingly important business practice beginning on page 10.

Whether switching to a bilingual format, listing last year’s significant economic events or shedding light on new business practices, we have tried to be “just in time,” so you can maximize your success in Beijing in the new Year of the Rat.

And if you’re a businessman, don’t think badly about having rats around in 2008: in ancient China, the presence of rats implied the presence of lots of grain, so their presence was considered especially auspicious, not odious. It may be a hard thing to imagine saying, but in this Olympic year, we find ourselves saying: “Good luck to all you rats out there!”