Foreword to the 2004-05 Beijing Investment Guide

Beijing has a history of more than 3,000 years. For 850 years in ancient times, it served as the national capital.

Beijing is capital of the People’s Republic of China, the country’s political and cultural center and center of international exchange. The city is full of Oriental demeanor, known for a rich heritage of history – the Great Wall, the Forbidden City and religious shrines built hundreds of years ago. It is rapidly modernizing, with the Zhongguancun Science and Technology Park or “China’s Silicon Valley,” and the CBD and the Financial Street expected to eventually develop into “China’s Wall Street.”

Beijing is home to the headquarters of the ruling Communist Party of China, the Chinese Government and the Chinese military. Numerous national corporations, industrial associations and financial organizations are based here. It is in Beijing that China’s top authorities make decisions on China’s economic development and regulate it when necessary. It is in Beijing that the country’s financial policies are made and their implementation monitored. Among all Chinese cities, Beijing is best developed in science, technology, education and culture. Day after day, the capital city generates and transmits huge quantities of economic and social information, which suffices to manifest the current conditions of China while enabling the world to see into its future.

The Chinese capital is fitted with a fairly complete urban infrastructure network. It has a contingent of scientists and other experts competent enough for their jobs. The city is highly developed in education, and the local labor force is of a good quality while inexpensive. Beijing enjoys a huge market potential for all this, plus the fact that it is the center of a group of cities on the coast of the Bohai Sea. These cities together form a rapidly growing economic belt with a great potential for development.

 Conditions in Beijing are conducive to the development of enterprises. That explains why hundreds of transnational corporations have chosen the city as their base of operations, and all of them have done well. Beijing has achieved rapid economic growths for years in a row. It is one of the best-developed cities in the country.

The 2008 Olympic Games is generating a myriad of business opportunities. These are for the world, not only for Beijing.

Your success will be ours, too. You are welcome to Beijing to invest, to share with us the business opportunities being generated by the 2008 Olympics, while enjoying the Chinese history and culture.

Deputy Mayor of Beijing Municipality
Lu Hao