Season's Greetings - AHKs

CHAMBER NEWS 

ALL CHINA 

Happy Holidays! 

38 December - January 2009/2010 

CHAMBER NOTICES 

The German Chamber of Commerce in China wishes its members 

and friends a wonderful holiday season! 

Season's 

Greetings 

Membership Directory Out Now 

BEIJING 

New Office-in-Office Addition 

The Membership Directory 

2009/10 has been distributed 

to all members. If you 

have not received your copy, 

please contact your local 

Chamber. Each member 

receives one complimentary 

copy. Non-members as 

well as members requiring 

additional copies may purchase 

them for RMB 450/800 

member/non-member. 

With Airsense Analytics, our Beijing office-inoffice 

concept has also won a home-grown 

addition: Karen Wang represents the chemical 

and analytical measurement engineering 

company with its production facility 

in Schwerin and business headquarters in 

Hamburg as Business Development Manager. 

Following a highly shaping year in the US, 

she completed a university degree in Media and 

Communication studies in Germany. Ms. Wang now returned home 

to Beijing and “her” part of town Chaoyang district and the CBD, 

and looks forward to supporting Airsense in establishing a trusted 

distribution network for its flagship products, intelligent industrial 

gas and vapor sensors and portable electronic noses. The solutions 

for protection, detection and decontamination are primarily aimed 

at government and public authorities and also promise broad application 

potential in the food, polymer, medical and environmental 

industries, so Ms. Wang sees a critical part of her role in China as an 

educator on and promoter of public safety. 

For detailed information, feel free to contact Ms. Karen Wang directly 

at: ' 010 6539-6652 | * wang@airsense.com 

SHANGHAI 

2010 is Election Year in Shanghai 

As every other year, the GCC l Shanghai will invite its 

members to elect its new Board of Directors in 2010 for 

the next term of two years. The nomination phase will 

be kicked off in mid-January with an e-mail announcement 

to all members. Further important electoral information 

and letter ballots will be posted to all members with voting 

power in mid-March. The election will be held at the Chamber Meeting 

on 29 th April 2010. 

Changes in the Shanghai Chamber Team 

Ms. Michaela Beck 

With effect of 1 st November 2009, Ms. 

Michaela Beck (formerly Hiebel) has 

taken over as Executive Chamber 

Manager of the GCC l Shanghai from 

Ms. Anna-Lisa Hartmann, who will 

move to Singapore in January. Having 

worked since 2008 in the Training 

Department of German Industry and 

Commerce (GIC), the service provider 

of the German Chamber, Ms. Beck 

brings with her a profound background 

in Sales and Marketing of HR 

Solutions as well as client relations 

with German Companies in Shanghai. The Board wishes Ms. Beck 

much success in her new role and thanks Ms. Hartmann for her outstanding 

achievements and efforts in bringing the Chamber to a new 

level of customer service and professionalism. 

Also starting in November, Mr. Sebastian Wegener has followed Mr. 

Ferdinand Pillenstein as Regional Manager Zhejiang & Jiangsu Provinces. 

Replacing Ms. Heidrun Buss effective 15 th December, Mr. Jan 

Höpper will continue to manage membership relations and events 

as new Regional Manager Shanghai. The Chamber Team is sad to see 

Ms. Hartmann, Ms. Buss and Mr. Pillenstein leave to their new destinations 

in Singapore, Shenzhen and Nuremberg respectively, but 

wishes them and their capable successors all the best for the future! 

To ensure a continued smooth communication with the Chamber 

Team, members are welcome to address Ms. Beck, Mr. Wegener and 

Mr. Höpper with requests and comments at the following contacts: 

* beck.michaela@sh.china.ahk.de | ' 021 5081-2266 ext. 1630 

* hoepper.jan@sh.china.ahk.de | ' 021 5081-2266 ext. 1656 

* wegener.sebastian@sh.china.ahk.de | ' 021 5081-2266 ext. 1830 

Mr. Sebastian Wegener (l.) and Mr. Jan Höpper (r.)

2010 Membership Cards 

GCC • Shanghai will send all members their new cards and Benefit Program 

booklet at the beginning of next year. Please look out for your new 

card and let us know if you have not received it by 1 st February 2010. 

SOUTH CHINA 

Greater China Day 2010: Save the Date 

The date and location of the GCC’s flagship event in Germany are 

fixed. On 18 th March 2010 China experts will gather in Dusseldorf to 

discuss future developments in Sino-German business. Lead organisers 

are the Chambers of Industry and Commerce (IHKs) in North 

Rhine-Westphalia represented by the IHKs Dusseldorf and Cologne, 

and the German Chamber of Commerce l South China. High-ranking 

officials, GCC board members and high-profile speakers have 

already confirmed to attend this outstanding event, which is made 

possible by the joint efforts of Chambers and Delegations from Beijing, 

Guangzhou, Shanghai, Hong Kong and Taiwan. For detailed information 

please refer to the chamber team in South China or check 

the February-March issue of GC Ticker. 

FrankfurtRheinMain joins GCC Office in Guangzhou 

On 11 th of November, the Guangzhou Liaison Office of the inbound 

investment promotion agency FrankfurtRheinMain GmbH – International 

Marketing of the Region - was inaugurated by the mayor 

of Frankfurt am Main, Ms. Petra Roth. After Shanghai and Beijing, 

Guangzhou is the third location of FrankfurtRheinMain at GCC offices 

in China. Following the growing number of Chinese companies 

investing in one of the most dynamic business regions throughout 

Europe, the office will act as a gateway to the FrankfurtRheinMain 

region. The team will assist South Chinese companies in setting up 

businesses, consult on tax and labour law related issues as well as 

work and residence applications, and connect investors with the preferred 

location in the region. 

For further information please contact Mr. Liu Xiaofei, Vice Director 

South China, directly at ' 020 2831-6982 | * xiaofei.liu@frmunited.com 

| www.frm-united.cn 

Ms. Petra Roth (2 nd left) with Ms. Alexandra Voss (middle) and 

Mr. Liu Xiaofei (2 nd right) 

www.china.ahk.de 

2009/2010 December - January 39

BEIJING 

CHAMBER NEWS BEIJING PAGES 

GCC BOARD 

Siemens Ltd. Northeast Asia 

CEO 

Siemens Ltd. China 

CEO and President 

Dr. Richard Hausmann* 

Chairman 

KPMG Huazhen Certified Public 

Accountants 

Partner Audit 

Mr. Andreas Feege 

Treasurer 

German Chamber Beijing 

Executive Director 

Delegation of German Industry & 

Commerce Beijing 

Delegate & Chief Representative 

Ms. Jutta Ludwig* 

Deutsche Bank (China) Co. Ltd. 

Director, Head of Corporate Banking 

Coverage, China 

Mr. Eddy Henning 

Gruner+Jahr (Beijing) 

Advertising Co. Ltd. 

General Manager & President 

Mr. Wolfgang Kohl 

Volkswagen (China) 

Investment Co. Ltd. 

Executive Vice President, 

Finance Department 

Dr. Jörg Mull 

TUI China Travel Co. Ltd. 

CEO 

Mr. Marcel Schneider 

Bayer (China) Ltd. 

Vice President, Corporate Social 

Responsibility Greater China 

Mr. William Valentino 

Daimler AG 

Executive Vice President 

Daimler Northeast Asia Ltd. 

Chairman & CEO 

Mr. Ulrich Walker 


The German Advantage 

Chamber Dinner Beijing 

It was a wealth-of-expertise packed evening 

at the Kempinski Hotel Beijing Lufthansa 

Center, to which Jutta Ludwig welcomed a 

diverse audience across the industries. Being 

in the right position was on the agenda 

– and how to utilise the dynamics of a very 

crowded market to successfully differentiate 

and place a foreign brand the key question. 

Dr. Niklas Schaffmeister kicked off the panel 

with a general overview of the challenges 

and image advantages foreign brands and 

specifically “Brand Germany” encounter in 

their transition from the home market to the 

emerging market China. He juxtaposed the 

typical model for the measurement of brand 

performance for an established leading 

brand at home with the typical performance 

stages of the same product in the new market. 

Schaffmeister further highlighted the points 

of difference, from which he deduced potential 

points of differentiation for German 

brands. An overview of the current Chinese 

market vividly demonstrated its complexities: 

from high competition for share of 

voice, aggressive price competitions and the 

constantly changing consumer behaviours 

of an economy in transition to socio-cultural 

peculiarities. Schaffmeister pointed out that 

due to the sheer size of the country, a China 

marketing campaign must view regionally 

specific consumption patterns, consumer 

habits and purchasing power on the dimensions 

of a continent rather than one cohesive 

nation. 

Your COO Is Good for You 

With China’s strong preference for foreign 

brands, the options for establishing a liking 

of a brand are multifarious and range from 

celebrity endorsements over co-branding to 

event sponsorship – and here is where the 

German advantage comes in. Schaffmeister 

stressed COO – the country-of-origin image 

– as a significant key message to integrate 

into brand communication. With a general 

opinion that foreign brands promise higher 

quality standards than cheaper local brands, 

the Chinese perception of a brand is highly 

sensitised to its COO. Another unique feature 

is the national pride, which emphasises 

the need for the right COO image. Germany, 

without question, has a very favourable 

COO that – with some exceptions – can be 

a highly successful tool for most brands in 

most fields. 

He urged anyone seeking to position themselves 

on the Chinese market – particularly 

smaller brands – to use this powerful support 

tool of COO image. He underlined the 

importance of conveying a feeling about 

where the product comes from, an approach 

that he still greatly finds underutilised by 

many German companies seeking to position 

their products in China. Although the Chinese 

consumer might recognise the brand 

name, it was critical not to assume awareness 

that it was actually German – no matter 

how established it might be back home. 

“Know where you come from and convey 

this history, but put a Chinese twist to it so it 

can prosper here”, the speaker summarised. 

Maximum Drive for a MINI 

Brand 

Carsten Greiner stepped in to illustrate 

the necessity of local adjustment of global 

brands and zoom in on two authentic communication 

case studies involving the realworld 

brand campaigns of BMW and MINI 

in China. “From Mao to Louis Vuitton under 

10 seconds”, Greiner exemplified the China 

BMW starting point to emphasise the steep 

learning curve of the Chinese consumer. 

“China is fast”, he established, pinpointing 

the necessity of a continuously updated marketing 

campaign which is ensured by setting 

clearly defined time frames. 

The communication strategy in the positioning 

campaign of BMW was split up into 

three phases between 2004 and now. From 

a vague brand image mainly based on status 

display and no brand differentiation 

among competitors within the same segment 

that required the initial establishment of a 

premium brand, over a developed understanding 

of the brand BMW that offered a 

first differentiation ability, to the successful 

introduction of new values and a more subtle, 

enhanced brand consciousness, Greiner 

guided the audience through a tour of TV 

and corresponding print campaign ads that 

were produced in each phase. 

The China MINI campaign had to start off 

nearly entirely from scratch and with very 

limited space to act due to strictly mandated 

branding and CI guidelines. Greiner wowed 

the audience with the extreme complexity 

and diversified effort that premium positioning 

on the Chinese market can demand 

in single cases. The highly specialised campaign 

literally had to introduce a whole new 

language to endear itself to its new Chinese

uyers – and transform itself into an entire 

educational and cultural mission on all 

things MINI. 

Mind Your Own People 

To round up the panel, Michaela Stolz- 

Schmitz introduced the human component 

to branding. She established the definition of 

‘brand’ neither as a pure logo, an identity or 

a product but a “gut feeling” about a product, 

service or organisation. From a short 

journey back in time to the beginnings of Siemens, 

she vividly derived the contemporary 

Siemens philosophy and its application to its 

CI and communications messages and designs. 

Clearly using the German advantage 

of its COO image and connecting it with the 

Siemens corporate history, they still follow a 

customised local approach. In consequence, 

she addressed the significance of online marketing 

in China, which does not exist to this 

degree in Germany and comes with its own 

set of challenges and systematic monitoring 

needs but also tremendous impact. 

Stolz-Schmitz accentuated integrity as the 

ultimate prerequisite for successful branding. 

It must be preceded by accurate alignment 

of its marketing with the overall 

business strategy: “If your brand promise 

is FAST, you better be fast, really fast – if 

your brand promise is COOL, you better be 

cool, really cool”, Stolz-Schmitz cited. And 

what better way to ensure that than to start 

at the core of the company itself – the employee: 

Siemens places as much care into its 

internal campaigns as it does on its external 

exposure to shape the individual employee 

into an ambassador of its corporate values. 

To demonstrate the success of this extended 

personal branding effort, she related an anecdote 

of the Siemens trolleys at the Beijing 

airport, which are without exception proudly 

favoured by their travelling employees. 

In conclusion, Michaela Stolz-Schmitz appealed 

to German brand makers to not only 

position their brand in China – but in the 

process also position a positive image of 

Germany in China. 

Event: Chamber Dinner: The China Challenge – Positioning of 

German brands in the world’s most dynamic environment for 

Branding & Marketing 

Date: 29 th October 2009 

Michaela Stolz-Schmitz makes branding a 

personal matter 

Speakers: Dr. Niklas Schaffmeister | Vice President Asia Pacific, 

BBDO Consulting; Mr. Carsten Greiner | Managing Director, 

Interone China; Ms. Michaela Stolz-Schmitz | VP and Director 

Major Events and Corporate Cultural Affairs, Siemens China 

Dr. Niklas Schaffmeister listens on to Jutta Ludwig's introductory 

words before he takes over the podium 


Carsten Greiner relates 

premium cases of premium 

positioning 

Wir übernehmen Ihr Management, 

Setzen neue Strategien um, 

Verkaufen Technologien und Patente. 



Into the Green 

A face-to-face discussion with the speakers Prof. Jin Min... ... and Francesco Della Casa 

Jointly presented by the GCC l Beijing and 

the Chambers of Commerce of France, Italy 

and Benelux, this evening event ventured 

out into the green with three perspectives 

on the opportunities in the Chinese market 

for European companies. Eco-political measures 

by the Chinese government have lain 

the foundation for foreign environmental 

technology providers to set foot on this still 

greatly uncharted territory and in a mutual 

effort with authorities, create sustainable 

solutions for energy efficiency, renewable 

energy and urban development. 

After an overview of the current ecological 

state of the nation, Jutta Ludwig briefed the 

audience on the most recent government 

energy policies and financial stimulus programmes, 

providing a set of impressive and 

hopeful figures that places China among the 

top five most attractive countries for investment 

in renewable energies particularly for 

European companies in a variety of sectors. 

Prof. Jin heralded in her presentation with 

an appeal to the industry to not only rely or 

even depend on political agendas before doing 

their part for a greener China. To exemplify 

her case, she quoted a comprehensive, 

all inclusive look at product life cycles that 

links decision makers on every level, and examples 

of holistic eco design as an integrated 

philosophy to keep the ultimate goal – environmental 

protection – in mind at all stages 

of the product life cycle. Prof. Jin reminded 

that China is still only catching up with the 


Inter-Chamber Dinner Beijing 

environmental protection consciousness of 

developed nations such as Germany, and in 

pent-up demand for the development and 

training of green minds – along with ecodesign 

an additional field of long and shortterm 

opportunity for SMEs. 

Francesco Della Casa reported about the 

“Thetis experience in China”, which began 

with an ambitious federal project on what 

he described as “one of the most complex 

ecosystems worldwide”, the Venetian Lagoon. 

He proudly illustrated the successes 

achieved within the ‘Venice Safeguard 

Project’ that includes flip gate barriers protecting 

the lagoon during exceptionally high 

tides. The remediation of Porto Marghera – 

not only Italy’s third largest industrial but 

most contaminated site – water cycle management 

and treatment in the basin, ongoing 

collection of geological and biological data, 

and the implementation of Intelligent Public 

Transport Systems make the project even 

more complex. All applications provided 

perfect training grounds for the equally ambitious 

Beijing ITS-TAP project – Intelligent 

Transport Systems for Traffic Air Pollution 

– that came into effect last year with the Beijing 

Olympics. 

Its air quality monitoring and public transportation 

management system is to this day 

clearing the air in the capital for more European 

green innovation to grow around the 

nation. 

Event: Chamber Dinner: China’s Green 

Future – China’s Environmental Situation 

and the Resulting Possibilities for European 

Companies 


Speakers: Ms. Jutta Ludwig | Delegate 

and Chief Representative, Delegation of 

German Industry and Commerce; Prof. 

Jin Min | Associate Professor, School of 

Environment and Natural Resources of 

Renmin University; Mr. Francesco Della 

Casa | Project Manager, Thetis S.p.A. 

Chair: Mr. Omar Maseroli | Executive 

Chamber Manager, Italian Chamber of 

Commerce 

Applying 

Compliance 

Business Visa Seminar 

Hanna Böhme, Managing Director of the 

German Centre for Industry and Trade, 

welcomed the 20+ attendees to the event. 

Members of the German Chamber as well as 

tenants of the German Centre welcomed this 

opportunity to hear first-hand accounts of 

visa practices in China. Harald Krems of the 

German Embassy in Beijing personally addressed 

the attendees and gave behind-thescene 

insights into the daily routine at the 

visa desk. 

Event: Vergabepraxis von Geschäftsvisa für 

Deutschland 


Speaker: Mr. Harald Krems | Head of the 

Visa Section at the German Embassy in 

Beijing

Custom-tailored services to suit China business needs: 

We outfit you with success in Northern China. 

Yearly Sponsors 2009 

www.china.ahk.de/chamber/beijing 



A journalist has one last question 

for Dr. Hausmann 


Event: Press Conference on the 60 th 

Anniversary of the People’s Republic of 

China 

Date: 22 nd September 2009 

How You Get There Depends on 

Where You Want to Be 

Inter-Chamber Young Professionals and Foreign 

Local Hires Evening 

Building Guanxi that last – the event invited young professionals 

and local hires to evaluate and reconsider their approach to networking 

not in the astute Chinese cultural context but in the context of 

their own career. Host Jasmin Keel outlined the focus of the evening 

as using a network for a purpose on a basis of giving and receiving. 

Self-proclaimed internet and China lover Philip Beck emphasised 

the importance of promoting oneself as a brand and tackling the 

job hunt as a personal marketing campaign that requires significant 

investment. The freedom of the internet, he illustrated, was a powerful 

marketing tool. He related common perceptions that had to be 

taken into consideration, as “If you are not on google, you don’t exist”, 

or “If you are not on linkedin, you are not legitimate”. Drawing 

from his rich experience in fusing online social platforms with real 

faces and assisting young professionals in paving their career paths, 

he gave impressive insights into establishing and maintaining ones 

own virtual identity on his preferred social networking website, 

linkedin. The audience was clearly impressed by the presentation of 

the short movie “Did you know? We are living in exponential times” 

on the progression of information technology of which they, too, 

were part of. In the initially overwhelming maze of possibility and 

opportunity, Beck pinpointed the key to success as a clear plan. With 

a clear vision of where one aspired to be in the future coupled and 

an honest effort, the plan would gradually fall into place. Beck urged 

the audience not to wait to devise this plan – he himself, he remembered, 

was a late career starter. 

Kelly Brantner approached her advice from the viewpoint of alumni 

networks of institutions of higher learning. Although not every re- 

Meet the Press 

60 th Anniversary Press Conference 

On the occasion of the 60 th anniversary of the founding of the People’s 

Republic of China, the German Chamber of Commerce in Beijing 

held a press conference with Chinese media representatives at 

the offices of the German Chamber in Beijing. Chairman Dr. Richard 

Hausmann and Board Member and Executive Director Ms. Jutta 

Ludwig discussed and gave answers on topics ranging from decades 

of successful German-Chinese economic relations to current issues in 

bilateral trade relations. 

Dr. Hausmann presented a congratulatory letter from the German 

Chamber of Commerce to the Chinese Minister of Commerce, Chen 

Deming. A total of 15 journalists from leading national media attended, 

such as Global Times and China Radio International. The 

depth and importance of Sino-German economic relations regarding 

technical and medical cooperation, environment and infrastructure 

were all well received; as were some critical aspects of market access. 

The press conference was organised as part of the German Chamber‘s 

intensified media activities. Both the turnout and subsequent 

coverage were a success, and continued media events can be expected 

over the next months. 

Accepting questions from the audience - Philip Beck, Jasmine Keel and 

Kelly Brantner 

Event: Inter-Chamber Young Professionals and Foreign Local Hires 

Evening with the British Chamber of Commerce – China Career 

Essentials: How to build Guanxi that last 

Date: 24 th September 2009 

Speakers: Mr. Philip Beck | CEO, Meijob; Ms. Kelly Brantner | 

International EMBA Executive Program Director, Rutgers in China 

Chair: Ms. Jasmine Keel | Managing Director, INSPIRED 

cent graduate is able to benefit from the sophisticated alumni culture 

of US universities and only few European or Chinese colleges and 

universities offer comparable platforms, she was able to establish 

how vital the membership in any association, mentoring programme, 

business club or other formal group was to success in networking 

and career building. Brantner’s presentation was clearly an incentive 

to maybe even start up a new local chapter of one’s alma mater. 

The evening merged into casual group formations, in which the 

young audience members argued in animated discussion how much 

time, effort and energy one was best to invest in building and nurturing 

online and real-life guanxi among the myriad of options available. 

The answer, of course, was up to the individual, but everyone 

agreed the presentations had provided a badly needed wake-up call.

Tianjin Opportunities Stay 

Strong 

The Tianjin Binhai New Area (TBNA) was included in China’s 11 th 

Five-Year Plan (2006-2010). The programme is part of the country’s 

effort to boost regional development of the Bohai Rim Region in 

particular and North China in general. Since then, Tianjin has undergone 

rapid economic development, which kept the city strong 

against the global financial crisis. Due to its diverse economic structure 

that combines traditional metallurgy and automotive industries 

with modern ones such as aviation and renewable energy, the city 

remained greatly untouched by the economic slowdown. 

Foreign investment also contributed to the development of Tianjin 

with a total FDI stock of USD 13.26bn. More than 80 German companies 

have already invested in Tianjin - 30 of which are now members 

of the German Chamber. 

Tianjin Board Meets Local 

Government 

During a formal meeting with officials on 24 th September in Tianjin, 

Dr. Richard Hausmann, Chairman of the German Chamber 

of Commerce, Beijing, officially introduced the newly established 

Tianjin board to the local government led by Mr. He Ronglin, Vice- 

Chairman of Tianjin Municipal Committee of the Chinese People’s 

Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC). Mr. He emphasised the 

importance of German presence in Tianjin and encouraged further 

investments, particularly in the field of environmental industries. 

GCC l Tianjin Office Looks 

Back 

The Tianjin Office was established and is managed by Ms. Claudia 

Barkowsky, who was joined this year by Mr. Wang Lipeng. Altogether 

30 chamber events have been organised so far, among them dinners, 

seminars, networking events and workshops. Highlights in 2009 were 

certainly the board election as well as a chamber dinner with Parliamentary 

State Secretary Hartmut Schauerte on challenges and opportunities 

for German SME’s in China. The regular monthly networking 

events will continue to be organised in cooperation with 13 national 

chambers and local organisations and will see more than 120 company 

representatives from all industries participating each time. 

For more information on upcoming events, benefit program partners 

and member companies, please visit the web presence of the Tianjin 

office at: www.china.ahk.de/chamber/tianjin 

TIANJIN PAGE 

Board of Directors Elected 

The development of the Tianjin branch of the German Chamber of 

Commerce in China has taken a further important step forward. 

After its establishment in October 2008, it was time to appoint an 

own board for the branch to better represent the interests of the German 

enterprises on site with a powerful committee. A total of seven 

candidates applied and introduced themselves to the audience on 

10 th September at the Sheraton Hotel Tianjin. Four of the seven candidates 

were elected to the Tianjin Board of Directors, which was 

complemented by the Delegate and Chief Representative of the Delegation 

of German Industry & Commerce, Beijing, Ms. Jutta Ludwig. 

Mr. Uwe Birnbaum, General Manager of Jean Müller Electrical Systems 

(Tianjin) Co. Ltd. was appointed Chairman. The Board of Directors 

represents a range of interest groups and industries, from finance 

to trading as well as production companies and service providers. 

Board member Mr. Christoph Kaiser, General Manager of Turck (Tianjin) 

Technology Co. Ltd. settled in Tianjin more than 10 years ago. He 

has witnessed the rapid development since then with his own eyes, 

with hopes to boost cooperation with educational institutions and further 

improve the human resources situation in the region. Mr. Zhong 

Wanli, General Manager of Würth (Tianjin) International Trading Co. 

Ltd. who came to Tianjin in 2005, is looking forward to deepening 

the relations between resident companies and the local government. 

Though different motivations led them to apply for a seat on the 

board, all board members unanimously agree on the promising potential 

that Tianjin offers as a location for foreign companies. 

The German Chamber welcomes and congratulates the newly elected 

Board of Directors! 

The new Tianjin Board: Zhong Wanli, Uwe Birnbaum, Jutta Ludwig, 

Christoph Kaiser and Martin Miller (left to right) 

Mr. Uwe Birnbaum 

General Manager, Jean Müller Electrical Systems (Tianjin) Co., Ltd. 

Mr. Christoph Kaiser 

General Manager, Turck (Tianjin) Technology Co., Ltd. 

Ms. Jutta Ludwig 

Delegate and Chief Representative, Delegation of German Industry 

& Commerce, Beijing 

Mr. Martin Miller 

General Manager, Commerzbank AG, Tianjin Branch 

Mr. Zhong Wanli 

General Manager, Würth (Tianjin) International Trading Co., Ltd. 



CHAMBER NEWS 


MEET THE MEMBER 

Arding Hsu 

Company: Siemens Limited China 

Job Title: Senior Vice President of Siemens Limited China, Head of 

Siemens Corporate Technology 

Year of Foundation: 1994 

HQ: Beijing 

Main Business: Electronics and electrical engineering, operating 

in the industry, energy and healthcare sectors with over 90 operating 

companies and 61 regional offices in China 

Number of Employees: 43,000 

Dr. Hsu, tell us a bit about your personal background. 

Our family roots lie in Wenzhou in Zhejiang province – as my father 

told me a place known around China for its risk taking minds. I was 

born in Hong Kong and grew up in Taiwan. Upon graduation from 

college, I moved to the US for my Master’s degree and PhD, around 

which time I joined the Siemens research division. After 23 years in 

New Jersey, I moved to California, where I lived for six years before 

I arrived in China in 2004. In my 25 years with Siemens, I also had 

many opportunities to visit Germany. 

You have been in charge of building a world-class research 

lab in China. What is its role within the greater Siemens 

global research network and what is unique about the China 

lab? 

We primarily support our global mission in the sections energy, industry 

and healthcare. But here in China more than elsewhere, we 

are in the position to utilise a huge needs market. And necessity is 

the mother of innovation. What aids innovation in China is not talent 

as many claim, but this variety of needs. Our ambition is to devise a 

unique innovation system that does not follow in western footsteps 

but has the potential to change the rule of the global game. China is 

the best place to do that. In our local labs specifically, we focus on the 

concept S.M.A.R.T.; the term “reverse innovation” that was recently 

coined by GE probably best describes this concept. The acronym 

stands for Simple - Maintenance friendly - Affordable - Reliable - 

Timely to market. The initial aim is the mid to low-end market in 

China, but it doesn’t end there: the vital point is move-up potential. 

The idea is to come out with innovative technology that we can develop 

for the high-end market and then go global with. 

Can you give an example for such a smart product with 

“move” up potential? 

Yes, take for example the need for traffic planning: first, you need to 

collect traffic information and measure the traffic flow. This traditionally 

happens through the implementation of sensors or personal 

surveys. Both methods are good but not very efficient, and costly. We 

began using the existing mobile networks with cell phones as a base 

station and developed a technology to collect very satisfactory data 

for not so crowded but fast-changing areas, such as outside the 5th 

Ring Road in Beijing. Eventually, we’ll be able to apply this technology 

to the busy city centre as well. That’s a case of a smart innovation: 

the information already exists, you don’t need to add anything 

extra, there is no maintenance, it’s affordable and capable of replacing 

the old method. So in line with the idea behind S.M.A.R.T., it’s a new 

way to do an old thing and good enough for the initial customer in 

China with all the potential to move into global mainstream. 

Before coming to China, you led the Siemens Technology- 

To-Business (TBB) Center in Berkeley, where you worked 

closely with universities, start-up companies and entrepreneurs 

to form a business, research and development organisation. 

The US are exemplary and still unsurpassed in the 

world for the fusion of research and and business and in 

consequence also the better product marketers. Is a dynamic 

formation as the TBB also a feasible vision for an innovative 

corporation in China? 

Oh yes, it most certainly is – an equivalent already exists here: we 

started a Technology-To-Business Centre in Shanghai in 2005, where 

we pursue what is called open innovation. With a concentration on 

an active approach pull model besides the more conservative push 

model, to use a food analogy, we seek out raw technology that we 

then can cook into business: a true product innovation. For this, we 

either move into Siemens – which we call “eat in” – or establish VCs 

externally to form start-ups, which we call “eat out”. Here again, it is 

the wide needs market that we can draw clear advantage from. 

You were appointed one of six Diversity Ambassadors to 

Siemens in China, a role to which you bring the best of three 

worlds. Can you give us an example what you have personally 

or professionally gained from these three worlds? 

I like to apply a personal little theory for looking at these three countries: 

I look at the sidewalks. From Europe, I remember the neatly 

arranged cobblestones. In the US, they are pragmatic and put down 

concrete. In China, a newly paved sidewalk will look good at first 

sight but you will quickly notice cracks and potholes. In Germany, I 

learned to do things precisely through detailed processes, in the US, 

to do things speedily and move fast, and in China, to fuse ideas from 

different sources. China adapts, absorbs and mixes what is considered 

good from all over the world. Maybe at first, the pavement does 

not come out perfectly, but it has a base of openness and flexibility. 

Personally this is what I have learned and what I bring into my work, 

in which diversity management holds a significant part.

NEW MEMBERS 

BEIJING 

Mr. Norman Baltz 

Beijing 

' 010 6436-8269 

* ntb@ntbsupply.com 

www.ntbsupply.com 

Ms. Karin R. Fries 

Beijing 

' 010 6581-4108 

* karin.fries@dmrkynetec.com 

www.dmrkynetec.com 

Mr. Philip Goeth 

Partner 

Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu CPA Ltd. 

Beijing 

' 010 8520-7788 

* phgoeth@deloitte.com.cn 

www.deloitte.com.cn 

Ms. Guo Fei 

Deputy General Manager 

Beijing Moesslein Water 

Technology Ltd. 

Beijing 

' 010 8518-6011 ext. 608 

* ucco.guo@mosslein.cn 

www.mosslein.cn 

Mr. Joerg Hornstein 

CFO 

Merck Serono China 

Beijing 

' 010 5907-2600 

* joerg.hornstein@merck-china.com 

www.merck-china.com 

Mr. Ulrich Huesson 

Managing Director 

Tianjin Airport Hua Yu Air Cargo 

Terminal Co. Ltd. 

Tianjin 

' 022 8488-2000 

* ulrich.huesson@tatcargo.com 

www.tatcargo.com 

Mr. Axel Kaspereit 

Director, General Manager 

Link Orthopedics (China) Co. Ltd. 

Beijing 

' 010 5802-6600 

(8229-2929 ext. 922) 

* a.kaspereit@linkhh.de 

www.linkhh.de 

Mr. Bernhard Muller 

Executive Chef 

The Peninsula Beijing 

Beijing 

' 010 6510-6690 

* bernhardmuller@peninsula.com 

www.peninsula.com 

Mr. Ulf Pauschardt 

General Manager 

Commune by the Great Wall Kempinski 

Beijing 

' 010 1351-1000 ext. 786 

* ulf.pauschardt@commune.com.cn 

www.commune.com.cn 

Mr. Matthias Roeke 


China World Summit Wing 

Beijing 

' 010-6505 2299 

* matthias.roeke@shangri-la.com 

www.shangri-la.com 

Mr. Tim Sichting 

Audit Manager 

Deloitte Tough Tohmatsu CPA Ltd. 

Tianjin 

' 022 2320-6824 

* tsichting@deloitte.com.cn 

www.deloitte.com 

Mr. Michael Specht 


NEW MEMBERS 

For full contact information and company profiles of our new and existing 

members please visit www.german-company-directory.com 


Bitzer Refrigeration Technology 

(China) Co. Ltd. 

Beijing 

' 010 6781-9020 

* michael.specht@operamail.com 

www.bitzer.de 

Ms. Diana Wang 

Chief Representative 

Germany European Travel Insurance Company 

Beijing 

' 010 6563-7808 

* diana.wang@ervchina.com 

www.ervchina.com 

Mr. Wu Jiatong 

Share Holder 

China Entertainment GmbH & Co. KG 

Beijing 

' 010 5165-0798 ext. 32 

* jiatong.wu@wupromotion.com 

www.wupromotion.com 

Mr. Dietmar Wunstorf 

General Manager of RBCC 

Bosch Automotive Products (Changsha) Co. Ltd. 

Changsha, Hunan 

' 0731 8292-9201 

* dietmar.wunstorf@cn.bosch.com 

www.bosch.com.cn 


CHAMBER NEWS BEIJING AROUND TOWN 

Inter-Chamber Networking 

22 nd September 2009 | St. Regis Beijing 

Welcome back! On this note, 17 Chambers of Commerce put a record-breaking astir end 

to a quiet summer in the Big City. 1,000 Chamber members, partners and friends gathered 

on the garden terrace of the St. Regis. The well-practiced exchange of business cards led to 

some real business opportunity – or simply one or the other new personal connection. The 

participating Chambers represented Germany, Great Britain, the Benelux countries, the USA, 

Canada, Israel, France, Denmark, the EU, Hong Kong, Singapore, Korea, Switzerland, Australia, 

Italy, Sweden and Thailand. Both sides – hosts and guests – were more than impressed 

by the superlative international evening and have already called out for an encore. 

48 December - January 2009/2010


Day of German Unity 

Reception 

9 th October 2009 | German Embassy Beijing 

A festive reception by Ambassador Schaefer and his wife Mrs. 

Gudrun Krögel-Schaefer commemorated Germany’s Unity and its 

longstanding friendly relations with China. All photos by Jo Ann 

Stuhr/German Embassy. 

‘Kabale und Liebe’ Premiered 

in China 

12 th & 13 th October 2009 | PLA Theatre Beijing 

The week of Friedrich Schiller’s 250 th birthday saw his famous 

drama ‘Kabale und Liebe’ (Intrigue and Love) being performed 

for the first time ever in German language on Chinese soil. The 

renowned ensemble of the Meininger Theatre toured China 

and gave two acclaimed performances in Beijing after a stint to 

Shanghai. Photos by Feng Jiawei 


CHAMBER NEWS 

GCC BOARD 

SHANGHAI 

Lufthansa German Airlines 

Managing Director Greater China 

Mr. Arved von zur Mühlen * 

Chairman 

Vossloh Fastening Systems 

(China) Co. Ltd. 

CEO 

Mr. Thomas Dorn 

Treasurer 

German Chamber Shanghai 



Commerce Shanghai 


Mr. Manfred Rothgänger* 

Squire, Sanders & Dempsey 

L.L.P. 

Partner, Head of German Desk 

Mr. Rainer Burkardt 

Analogic Corporation 

CEO 

Dr. Rolf Hupke 

POLYMAX (Shanghai) Trading 

Co. Ltd. 

Chairman of the Board 

Mr. Ulrich Mäder 

DEKRA (Shanghai) 

Co. Ltd. 


Mr. Günther Strobel 

Management Engineers 

China Ltd. 


Ms. Brigitte Wolff 

* All-China Board member 


SHANGHAI PAGES 

Managing Against Corruption 

Zhejiang Roundtable and Suzhou Special 

Legal frameworks in China differ from the 

ones in the United States and Europe. Mr. 

Rainer Burkardt opened the Roundtables in 

Hangzhou and Suzhou with an introduction 

on to what these differences are. Within this 

overview, he introduced the “Fraud Triangle” 

- three key factors concerning fraud: opportunities 

for criminal activity, the perpetrator’s 

subjective justification and the improper classification 

of fraud as a mistake or irreprehensible. 

Fraud, he pointed out, is a particularly 

relevant topic now as economic downturns 

usually lead to more cases of fraud and 

bribery. Mr. Burkardt also talked about anticorruption 

laws in China with the advice that 

the best method is to follow the FCPA (Foreign 

Corrupt Policies Act) and OECD regulations 

and be pro-active in any matter of fraud. 

Following this, was Mr. Dane Chamorro of 

Control Risks with his presentation on Managing 

Corruption Risks with a special view 

on their Chinese characteristics. According to 

the Anti Corruption Bureau of China, China 

is considered the third worst country in the 

world in terms of corruption. However, Mr. 

Chamorro shared his thoughts that countries 

such as India, Indonesia and Malaysia must 

be worse. He used a famous quote from Deng 

Looking to Upgrade 

Special Seminar Innovation 

Prof. Weissenberger-Eibl began by introducing 

the Fraunhofer Institute for System and 

Innovation research (ISI) that works not only 

in technology but also in politics and future 

studies. The institute engages in political 

consulting through simulation models to 

help agencies “get on the right track”. 

The purpose of Fraunhofer Technology Foresight 

is to think of and analyse systematically 

influential factors such as politics, society, 

science, technology and economy. The goal 

is to be able to put completed studies into 

practice. In 2007, the most promising project 

with the German Federal Ministry of Education 

and Research (BMBF) was launched on 

an international scale. The study hopes to 

identify new key ventures, strategic partnerships, 

and assist in selecting where to act 

first. The methodology is a combination of 

classic foresight and additional monitoring 

of economics, politics and science. 

The BMBF Foresight Project included a sur- 

Xiaoping: “Let some people get rich first”. 

This quote so ingrained into the cultural 

background of China almost seems to call for 

corruption. One question posed to the panel 

was whether there have been any changes regarding 

this issue due to the upcoming EXPO 

2010; the answer was no. Surprisingly, business 

still goes on as usual according to Mr. 

Burkardt’s statistics. 

Participants in Hangzhou 

Event: Anti-corruption - Facts and How to 

Manage the Risks! 

Date: 16 th September 2009 in Hangzhou 

and 22 nd September 2009 in Suzhou 

Presenters: Mr. Rainer Burkardt | Partner, 

Squire, Sanders & Dempsey L.L.P. 

Mr. Dane Chamorro | Regional General 

Manager, Greater China & North Asia; 

Mr. Ben Wootliff | Director of Conporate 

Investigations, China, Control Risks Group 

(Shanghai) Ltd 

veying of 2,700 international experts in the 

fields of water infrastructure, day-to-day 

research, Producing/Consuming 2.0 and 

time research. Time research can be defined 

as modelling and simulating the question of 

how time is dealt with. 

The conclusion of the workshop was that 

serious scientific foresight research is a 

methodological challenge and very time 

consuming. The results are worth the efforts 

however, as foresight projects can contribute 

tremendously to the development of innovative 

systems, or, summed up in a nutshell: 

“The future remains exciting!” 

Event: Technology Foresight aus politischer 

und unternehmerischer Perspektive 


Presenter: Prof. Dr. Marion A. Weissenberger-Eibl 

| Head of Fraunhofer Institute for 

System and Innovation Research (ISI)

ZURICH 

MUNICH 

VIENNA 

MOSCOW 

Closing the Gap 

Workshop Marketing & Sales 

Is there a difference between the way China 

and other countries sell? “The easy answer 

is yes,” says Mr. C.J. Ng, presenter at the 

recent GCC l Shanghai’s Sales and Marketing 

workshop. He pointed out that even between 

different regions in China sales tactics 

can vary. Titled “How to Hire, Lead and Motivate 

a Winning Sales Team in China”, the 

workshop focused on how to bridge cultural 

gaps between traditional Chinese marketing 

and the international standard. While Mr. 

Ng’s title for this workshop was technically 

“Speaker”, perhaps that is not so accurate in 

this case. His workshops are not your run of 

the mill variety. 

Rather than using the standard workshop 

format consisting of a presentation followed 

by Q&A, Ng prefers to engage with his participants 

allowing them to guide the discussion 

as much as he does. This not only enables 

members to engage in discussion with 

each other, but also serves to guide the topics 

of conversation while the speaker lends his 

expert advice. After breaking off into smaller 

teams, Ng assigned the task of coming up 

with some of the challenges that a sales 

manager will face in China to help guide the 

flow of the workshop. Some of the topics 

include: cultural differences and miscommunications, 

employee retention, monitoring, 

and getting accurate information. Following 

the forming of this list, Ng moderated over a 

fluid workshop with topics rising out of and 

looping back to one another. Despite their 

familiarity with most of the themes, participants 

learned by benchmarking personal experiences 

supplemented with the knowledge 

JOHANNESBURG 

BANGKOK 

HONG KONG 

SHANGHAI 

Lots of group interaction… 

led to winning results at the workshop 

of the moderator. With a parting message of 

“make sure you know the ground”, Mr. Ng 

concluded GCC l Shanghai’s first fully discussion 

based workshop. 

Event: How to Hire, Lead and Motivate a 

Winning Sales Team in China 


Presenters: Mr. C.J. Ng | Executive Director, 

Directions Management Consulting Pte Ltd 

EXCELLENCE IN 

INTERIM MANAGEMENT 

Operational responsibility in projects 

and line management: experience, 

speed, flexibility, change 

Your success 


BRAINFORCE INTL. (CHINA REP. OFFICE) | Rm 321, 3F, Building A | Far East International Plaza | 319 Xian Xia Road 

200051 Shanghai, PR China | Phone +86 21 6270 2222 Ext.2221| www.brainforce-ag.com 

Read the 

Fine Print 

Special Seminar Shanghai 

and Suzhou 

Mr. John presented an overview of the most 

important factors to be considered when 

choosing the right insurance for living 

abroad. When explaining the difference between 

a local and an expat contract, Mr. John 

pointed out that Germans in China often assume 

that they have an expat contract, when 

in fact they are on a local contract. The type 

of employment contract however has direct 

implications on the insurance one should 

choose. 

Reading the terms and conditions of an 

insurance carefully is still the safest way to 

spot potential hidden regulations and exceptions. 

A comprehensive insurance package 

should also grant accident coverage during 

home country visits, if the stay is within a 

certain length. Honesty is still the best measure 

against unpleasant surprises, as insurers 

usually verify the validity of claims and 

accuracy of submitted data. 

Event: Versicherungsschutz fuer deutsche 

Expatriates in China 

Date: 21 st October 2009 in Shanghai, 28 th 

October 2009 in Suzhou 

Presenters: Mr. Werner John | Senior Adviser 


CHAMBER NEWS 

The host for the evening, Mr. von zur Mühlen, 

began by giving two striking statistics: 

according to the 2009 Global Association 

Research Survey the country with the most 

expats in the world is China (19% of total expats), 

but failure quota is also highest in the 

world, with 20% of China expats returning 

or moving on before the end of their initial 

term. After a short introduction elaborating 

on what this means, the podium was handed 

over to Dr. Martin Posth. 

Dr. Posth is the first German citizen of honour 

in Shanghai and a former board member 

of Volkswagen Group, who first came to 

China in 1985. With few jobs available in Germany 

and endless possibilities in China, Dr. 

Posth considers it a “time of opportunity” for 

expats. He clarifies that positions should not 

be filled without thinking though, and only 

the best should be sent to China to ensure the 

future of German companies in China. Good 

managers in Germany might fail in China 

due to a lack of intercultural skills. The wind 

of change is blowing for the new generation 

of expats bringing them new challenges. In 

the past, expats were technically oriented, 

pragmatic and better educated. Now expats 

are competing with highly qualified Chinese 

who studied abroad in Britain, US, Canada 

or Australia. With these parting words, Dr. 

Posth concluded his speech and gave the 

floor to Mr. Rolf Köhler. 

Mr. Köhler, HR Director for Freudenberg 

Group Asia, considers the expats in Shanghai 

to be “luxury-expats.” Expat communities 

as large as the one in Shanghai don’t exist in 

other Chinese cities where the standard of 

living is lower. Because of this high standard 

of living as well as the increasing importance 

of China, German expats numbers have risen 

from 4,600 in 2003 to 7,246 in 2008. While the 

numbers are increasing, it is important to 

remember that not all foreign hires will turn 

out to work well in China. Mr. Köhler offered 

advice as to what may help companies 

making sure they hire people who succeed 

in China. Using an acronym, he suggested 

to look for the following qualities in incoming 

“E.X.P.A.T.S.” to China: Energy, eXtroversion, 

Passion&Patience, Activeness and 

Smile&Support. 

Set apart from the preceding speakers, Mr. 

Quosdorf came to Shanghai of his own accord 

in 2004. He had managed several multicultural 

teams for both Chinese and multinational 

companies before branching out 



Expats vs. Flexpats 

Chamber Meeting September 

and starting his own business. Quosdorf uses 

the new term “flexpat” for himself and his 

contemporaries. Members belonging to this 

group do not have the traditional benefits the 

old expats have, such as expat salaries, bonuses 

and paid flights home. They see their 

presence in Shanghai as “a lifestyle, rather 

than a hardship”. People come here because 

they want to, not because they have to. 

This generation of expats consists not only 

of ambassadors, but also true members of 

the community. Mr. Quosdorf reminded 

these community members that going back 

to one’s home country may not be as easy as 

one thinks, and proper planning is required. 

Because there are so many opportunities in 

China it is often easy for people to find new 

positions, while Germany is more conservative 

and hierarchal. The experience of having 

worked in China though can be very useful, 

particularly as a still increasing number of 

German companies are communicating and 

doing business with Chinese companies. 

An extended Q&A session gave proof that 

members of both the traditional and the 

progressive expat model were plentiful represented 

in the room. Together they flushed 

out further aspects of this theme in a partly 

heated, but predominantly humorous way. 

Event: China Expats – Quo Vadis? 


Presenters: Dr. Martin Posth | Former Board 

Member, VW AG; Mr. Rolf Köhler | HR Director, 

Freudenberg Group Asia; Mr. Frank 

Quosdorf | Chairman and Co-Founder, 

Totuba 

Chair: Mr. Arved von zur Mühlen | Chairman 

of the Board of GCC l Shanghai & 

Managing Director Greater China, Lufthansa 

German Airlines 

10 th GCC Trade Fair 

As every spring and autumn, the Trade 

Fair before the Chamber Meeting gave 

exhibitors the opportunity to promote their 

services and match business opportunities. 

Among the 22 represented companies 

this time there was Staufen, Asian 

Express, Matsu and MTI. 

A full room followed… 

…and engaged with the fl/expat panel. 

Udo von Klot-Heydenfeldt (Viessmann, left) with 

Dr. Martin Posth 

Rolf Köhler (Freudenberg, left) with Thomas 

Deininger (Deininger Management Consultants)


CHAMBER NEWS 

A Level Playing 

Field Chamber Meeting October 

GCC l Shanghai’s monthly prime gathering 

easily filled the Grand Hyatt’s ballroom 

again in October and welcomed back a 

strong speaker and ‘Old China Hand’ by 

popular demand. Chairman Arved von 

zur Mühlen opened the floor for keynote 

speaker Jörg Wuttke with a few impressive 

statistics of the 9 th Position Paper of the European 

Union Chamber of Commerce, the 

body headed by Wuttke as its President. In 

spite of a still growing market and slowly 

but steadily recovering growth rates, China 

also seems to offer more headaches to foreign 

investors than ever before. The number 

of specific EU recommendations for China 

gathered in the report this year has grown 

twofold from 250 last year to over 500. 

The annually published Position Paper is 

direct feedback, collected ‘bottom-up’ by the 

34 industry-specific Working Groups of the 

EUCC. The overarching finding of the report 

this year is that China is still becoming more 

interesting for European companies, but that 

the market access barriers are also rising. 

This worrying trend has been accelerated by 

the financial crisis. An increase in protectionist 

tendencies is visible, initiated reform processes 

are slowing down or have even been 

reversed in some sectors. 

The aim of the Position Paper however is 

not to manifest complaints and the standard 

requests of the European industry regarding 



Consul General Albrecht von der Heyden with Manfred Rothgänger (AHK 

Shanghai) and keynote speaker Jörg Wuttke (from left to right) 

transparent, fair and free market conditions, 

but to document progress that has been 

made on the basis of past editions of the 

Paper. The primary goal of the publication 

however is to provide recommendations for 

ongoing reform and ideas for Chinese policymakers. 

This is becoming more and more 

respected by Beijing, and the roll-out of the 

document in various European stations has 

helped to gain momentum for the interests 

of European industry in China. 

Since 500 recommendations are difficult to 

summarise in a dinner presentation and 

equal weight should be given to all of them, 

Mr. Wuttke referred to some findings of the 

EU Chamber’s Business Confidence Survey 

to feel the pulse of European business in 

China. In spite of the crisis, two thirds of the 

300+ survey respondents expressed optimism 

about the Chinese economy in general 

and their individual sector in particular with 

growth rates ranging around 8% for 2009- 

10. The general optimism stands in contrast 

with profitability expectations, however; 

only one third of the surveyed companies 

expect a growing bottom line. 

Experts have already calculated in 2006 that 

European companies have missed out on 

business in the area of EUR 21bn through 

market barriers in China. The country is 

still not an ‘investment heaven’ and currently 

ranks 83 rd in the World Bank’s Ease of 

Arved von zur Mühlen (Lufthansa) engaging with with Tino Zeiske (METRO) 

and Susanne Garners (Roland Berger) 

Event: Bestandsaufnahme Investitionsklima 

China 


Presenters: Mr. Jörg Wuttke | President, 

European Union Chamber of Commerce 

in China & Chief Representative, BASF 

(China) Company Limited 

Chair: Mr. Arved von zur Mühlen | 

Chairman of the Board of GCC l Shanghai 

& Managing Director Greater China, 


Download link: www.europeanchamber. 

com.cn/view/static/?sid=5622 

Doing Business index. Foreign enterprises 

most frequently encounter barriers in the 

form of inconsistent interpretations and 

implementations of laws and regulations, 

covert discrimination of foreign companies 

in public tenders, and inadequate protection 

of intellectual property. The ongoing 50/50 

JV obligation for foreign automakers as well 

as not fully transparent decisions in M&A 

deal denials are examples that the speaker 

raises for sector-specific market hindrances 

and questions about China’s full compliance 

with WTO rules. 

Closing his powerful pledoyer, Mr. Wuttke 

calls for an understanding of a level playing 

field between China and Europe. Not only is 

China a key trading partner for Europe, but 

the EU is also the destination for 20% of all 

Chinese exports and China still receives 40% 

of its technology know how from European 

companies. 

For the first time this year, the full online 

version of the 600-page Position Paper is 

available for free download at the EUCCC 

Website.

Peter Vent (Commerzbank) between the chairs 

Marcus Malatitsch (Hubner Interface Systems) opening 

the Q&A 

Simon Aliband (Otto International) weighing the facts Dr. Anne Daentzer (SCHOTT AG) listening in 

compliance 


CHAMBER NEWS 

End of the Gloom? 

Speaker Dr. Gerhard Hinterhäuser 

Opening his presentation, speaker Dr. Gerhard 

Hinterhäuser challenged the audience 

with an unusual question: “Where is the financial 

crisis in China?” With 8.9% economic 

growth, a record of 150,000 sold Volkswagen 

cars in September, and even positive profits 

and bonus expectations in the US, talks of a 

crisis may seem overly gloomy. 

A year ago the picture was quite a different 

one. The housing bubble in the United 

States had triggered an avalanche of global 

Bigger City, Better Life 

When envisioning the future face of Shanghai, 

who better to ask than Prof. Dr. Zheng 

Shiling, one of the pioneers in developing 

urban areas such as Taikang Lu and – in his 

role as Director of the Committee for Urban 

Development Strategy – a key driver of the 

city’s long-term development far beyond the 

World Expo in 2010. 

To put things in perspective of the explosive 

growth that the city has witnessed, 

Prof. Zheng started with a short overview 

of Shanghai, a city that had grown from an 

urban area of 82.40 km² in 1949 to currently 

2,580km². Shanghai’s urban master plan was 

initiated in the 1990s with the decision to 

develop the city eastwards and form a multicentric 

urban structure. The fundamental 

idea behind was to build Shanghai into a 

world economic, finance, trade and shipping 

centre by 2010. The development of Pudong, 

the further development of the suburbs and 

the Expo area are the three main factors that 

affected the future face of the city most. 



JV Roundtable 

recession and China’s growth rates were 

cut in half. The traditionally low savings 

ratio in the US had picked up to 7% in light 

of increasing unemployment. US imports 

slumped and Chinese exports suffered. The 

governments of both countries reacted to the 

crisis by flooding the market with liquidity. 

Interest rates were lowered to 0% in the USA 

and 5% in China. However, Beijing used 

the money to only support the economy, 

whereas Washington mainly used the money 

to bail out big companies in debt. 

Workshop Construction 

The Expo’s theme has also led to paying 

more attention to cultural facilities and the 

quality of urban space, to preserving historical 

areas and heritage architecture and to 

protecting the urban ecologic environment. 

The Conservation Program for Historical 

Areas and Heritage is an important aspect 

of the master plan. As part of it, previous 

constructions like the 1993 transformation of 

the Bund into a traffic artery are now being 

reversed to reinstall the cultural and heritage 

value. But also green spaces are being 

expanded to reach a total coverage of 38% in 

the city, up from the current 30%. 

A city of such dimensions and population 

density also needs a transportation network 

to go with it. Currently at 223km track 

length, Shanghai’s subway network will still 

be extended to a total 970km, aimed to handle 

35% of all city traffic in 2010. A particular 

focus over the next decade will be given 

to the new business district in formation 

around the expanded Hongqiao Airport. The 

Event: Weltfinanzkrise – ein Jahr danach: 

Wo stehen wir? Die besondere Rolle Chinas! 

Date: 22 nd October 2009 

Presenters: Dr. Gerhard Hinterhäuser | Vice 

President, PICC Asset Management Co. Ltd. 

& Managing Director & Chief Executive Officer, 

MEAG 

Chair: Kurt Fasser | Senior Advisor, AHK 

Shanghai & General Manager, CON 

MOTO Consulting Group Shanghai Office 

The worst seems to be over now. Stock markets 

are on the path to recovery, but discussions 

of pulling out some financial stimuli 

have caused concern. The speaker expects 

China to still keep the financial stimulus 

package in place in order to promote continuous 

economic growth. The realisation 

of capital gains through stocks is expected 

to be much lower in the near future moving 

down from 40/50 to 20/30. Nevertheless, 

unexpected changes can always happen, so 

the gloom may not be over quite yet. 

area, including a high speed railway terminal, 

intercity railway, subway and bus stations 

is planned to become a transport hub 

for the whole Yangtze Delta Area. 

Event: Shanghai’s Future – An Overview of 

Current Major Urban Planning Projects 


Presenters: Prof. Dr. Zheng Shiling | Director 

of the Committee for Urban Development 

Strategy, Shanghai Planning Commission 

Chair: Ms. Magali Menant, Manager econet 

china

Fresh Bravery 

Young Professionals Workshop 

Creativity is not just a gift of nature, it can be trained. Some people 

may be naturally more endowed with creative and innovative talent, 

but everybody can acquire these skills through constant training. 

This is a core belief of ?Whatif!, an organisation that was founded 

in the UK in the early nineties and now helps companies all over 

the world to launch their new products or promote established ones 

through product innovation. 

Speaker Joeri Schilders of ?Whatif! started by pointing out some 

common aspects that hinder us from being creative: attitude, structures 

and the environment. The skills of creativity often already exist 

within a company, but they are not structured. Gathering ideas and 

putting them into a certain structure is crucial to efficiently transform 

them into actual projects. By creating a stimulating environment that 

activates all senses, a company can enable its members to become 

more creative, often through relatively simple changes concerning 

colours, settings and lighting. 

Schilders then engaged with the room by introducing specific proven 

processes of cultivating and growing ideas within a safe environment. 

Playfulness is a very important aspect to foster innovation. It 

is scientifically proven that laughing cools down the brain, which 

improves the creative part of the brain. Through Signaling ideas are 

being encouraged and put into a certain order. Letting people know 

the overall direction helps steering ideas towards the eventual goal. 

By Freshness, the speaker referred to the necessity to constantly do 

new things. The brain can be trained to become more creative by 

constantly providing new challenges and situations. Finally, a fair 

amount of Bravery is needed to sometimes step out of the daily routine 

and the standards that have been created by our society. 

It was all about teamwork in the interactive exercises 

Event: ?WhatIf! Success and Fun at the Workplace through Innovation 

and Creativity 


Presenters: Mr. Joeri Schilders | Head of Innovation Capability 

Team Asia, ?WhatIf! 


CHAMBER NEWS 



China Complies with WTO 

Christoph Rohrbach (Staufen), Kurt Fasser (AHK) and Alexander Prautzsch, (Ernst & Young) following the presentation (left to right). 

Import taxes have had a large impact on 

how foreign companies do business in China. 

With the world being abuzz with China 

following the WTO’s recommendations on 

import taxes, Roundtable initiator Mr. Kurt 

Fasser was particularly pleased to introduce 

the speaker for the evening. 

Prof. Feng Jun, Professor of International 

Law at the Shanghai Foreign Trade Institute 

and Associate President of the Government 

sponsored Shanghai WTO Affairs Consultation 

Centre, began his talk with background 

information regarding the auto-parts case. In 

March 2006, Canada, the EU and the United 

States called for a formal consultation with 

regard to China’s tariffs imposed on imported 

vehicle parts. The countries argued that 

charging identical tariffs on imported parts 

and final assembled vehicles violated fundamental 

principles issued by the WTO. China 

defended its policy by saying it prevents 

car makers from evading tax by importing 

finished cars as spare parts to avoid high 

tariffs. Since the tariff rates on auto parts are 

usually lower than on assembled vehicles, 

companies may have had an incentive to 

import auto parts and assemble them locally 

to avoid the higher tariffs. On December 15 th 

2008 the WTO issued its final ruling, concluding 

that China failed to comply with the 

WTO accession agreement by imposing the 

same tariff on imported vehicle parts and assembled 

finished parts. 

Prof. Feng discussed the pros and cons concerning 

China’s attempt to abolish its 60% 

rule (i.e. only 60% of parts used in making a 

vehicle can be imported without an extra tariff 

being imposed). Some of the good things 

to come for foreign companies include: the 

reduction of costs on imported auto parts, 

the improvement of cash flow as well as 

simplified import procedures. Still, there are 

Climate Control Workshop Environmental Protection 

Speaker Dr. Dieter Heinz introducing the Bayer 

Climate Check 

In November of 2007, Bayer announced its 

Climate Programme, focusing on Greenhouse 

Gas (GHG) reduction as well as the 

initiation of several light house projects. One 

of these projects is the Bayer Climate Check. 

Speaker Dr. Dieter Heinz used it as an example 

of how a company can reduce its carbon 

footprint. The initiative consists of two different 

elements: a methodology for determining 

the climate footprint of any production unit 

and an energy efficiency check. The results 

of these tests are then used to gauge the 

economic and technical feasibility of how 

much the GHG output can be reduced. Bayer 

plans to run the Check at more than 100 of its 

plants in the course of the next two years. 

The point of doing studies like this is to identify 

not only where GHG can be reduced, 

but where the most efficient places are to 

JV Roundtable 

areas of uncertainty, such as custom evaluation; 

Chinese custom authorities can still 

argue that spare parts should be taxed as a 

finished vehicle where the parts have the essential 

characteristic of a finished vehicle. 

Event: China Follows the WTO Recommendations 

on Import Taxes – What are 

the Implications for Foreign Businesses and 

What can be Expected Next? 


Presenters: Prof. Feng Jun | SCC/WTO 

Shanghai WTO Affairs Consultation Centre 

Chair: Kurt Fasser | Senior Advisor, AHK 

Shanghai & General Manager, CON 

MOTO Consulting Group Shanghai Office 

cut back. Looking at individual machines 

can help with quick gains in energy saving, 

but for long term success the entire process 

must be observed. Data collected over time 

requires commitment from both the company 

and its employees, but the monitoring 

can lead to a cleaner environment as well as 

increased profits. 

Event: How Large is Your Footprint? Carbon 

Footprint and Energy Efficiency in the 

Process Industry and How it Can Save You 

Money 


Presenters: Dr. Dieter Heinz | Head of Process 

Technology Division, Bayer Technology 

and Engineering (Shanghai) Co. Ltd.

NEW MEMBERS 

SHANGHAI 

Mr. Frank J. Adick 


Dew-Point International Ltd. 

Shanghai 

' 021 6340-3276 

* sh_training@dew-point.com.cn 

www.dew-point.com.cn 

Mr. Matthias Farrenkopf 

Suzhou 

' 0512 6283-6886 ext. 605 

* mf@gates.com 

Ms. Eva Fries 

Shanghai 

' 021 6340-3276 

* eva-fries@web.de 

Mr. Michael Kirchner 


Carl Zeiss IMT (Shanghai) Co. Ltd. 

Shanghai 

' 021 5048-0080 

* yangjy@zeiss.com.cn 

www.zeiss.com.cn 

Dr. Le Weiliang 

Head of SAP Business Objects TD 

Shanghai Development Center 

Business Objects Software 

(Shanghai) Co. Ltd. 

Shanghai 

' 021 6108-3000 

* theron.pan@sap.com 

www.sap.com/sapbusinessobjects 

Mr. David Lehmann 


Bovis Lend Lease Projects 


Shanghai 

' 021 6445-2938 

* david.lehmann@ 

ap.bovislendlease.com 

www.bovislendlease.com 

Mrs. Emma Magrini 

Brand Coordinator 

SINODIS 

Shanghai 

' 021 6128-1820 

* emagrini@sinodis.com.cn 

www.sinodis.com.cn 

Dr. Karl-Heinz Mangartz 


Evonik Degussa Specialty Chemicals 


Shanghai 

' 021 6119-2600 

* chiping.feng@evonik.com 

www.evonik.com 

Mr. Franz Pöckl 


KUKA Flexible Manufacturing 

Systems 


Shanghai 

' 021 6787-1808 

* franz.poeckl@kuka-sha.com.cn 

www.kuka.cn 

Mr. Tobias Schöning 

Managing Representative 

of Mosolf China 

Horst Mosolf GmbH & Co. KG 

Shanghai Representative Office 

Shanghai 

' 021 2898-6318 

* tobias.schoening@mosolf.de 

www.mosolf.de 

Mr. Jochen Siebert 

Director 

JSC (Shanghai) Automotive 

Consulting Company Limited 

Shanghai 

' 021 6193-5623 

* jsiebert@jscautomotive.com 

www.jscautomotive.com 

Mr. Heiko Stehle 

Shanghai 

' 135 6431-7244 

* heikostehle@jaq.com.cn 

Mr. Danny Stötzer 

Shanghai 

' 021 5058-5638 

* d.stoetzer@adpl-solutions.com.hk 

Mr. Tao Xiangdong 

Sales & Marketing Director 

Belden Wire & Cable 

International Trading Co. Ltd. 

Shanghai 

' 021 5445-2353 

* xiangdong.tao@belden.com 

www.belden.com 

Mr. Olivier Vermast 

Shanghai 

' 135 8560-2504 

* ove@stow.com.cn 

Dr. Richard Zhang 


& Chief Representative 

Suzhou Taizhu Technology 

Development Co. Ltd. 

Taicang 

' 0512 5312-0368 

* richard.zhang@merck-china.com 

www.taizhu.com 

For full contact information and company profiles of our new and existing 

members please visit www.german-company-directory.com 

NEW MEMBERS 


Does your consultant 

provide general knowledge? 

您的咨询顾问只提供您些常识? 

Better yet, 

he demonstrates 

expertise 

他最好能具有 

专业知识 

Moving Your Enterprise 

www.ManagementEngineers.com 


CHAMBER NEWS 


SHANGHAI AROUND TOWN 

Day of German Unity 

Reception 

13 th October 2009 | Radisson Plaza Xing 

Guo Hotel Shanghai 

Consul General Albrecht von der Heyden invited 

and close to 1,200 Germans and friends of Germany 

came to celebrate the 19 th anniversary of 

Germany’s reunification, 10 days after the original 

date due to its overlap with the Mid-Autumn festival 

this year. Photos courtesy of Wiechmann Aiette- 

Shagal.

‚Germany and China‘ Sets 

Tent in Wuhan 

23 rd -31 st October 2009 | German Esplanade, Hankou 

District Wuhan 

In more than a dozen bamboo pavilions, German industry and 

government showcased their innovative solutions for urban sustainable 

development. Former Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder 

had come to open the Esplanade. A pop festival including Sino- 

German hip hoppers rounded off the action-packed programme 

and entertained the citizens of Hubei‘s capital. 

CI_Sheet_Shanghai 08.05.2007 9:11 Uhr Seite 1 

HOFBRÄUHAUS 

SHANGHAI 

HOFBRÄUHAUS 

SHANGHAI 


HOFBRÄUHAUS Happy SHANGHAI Hour Went 80’s 

30 th October 2009 | Quan Spa @ Renaissance Shanghai 

Yuyuan Hotel 

The second Happy Hour organised this year by the GCC l 

Shanghai, managed to draw a great crowd in spite of heavy pre- 

Halloween competition. Pantone Whether 871 C it was for the amazing views 

from the terrace, DJ Fiepko’s very danceable Hitlist or the finger 

Pantone 032 C 

foods on offer in the sexy treatment rooms of Quan Spa - guests 

seemed to enjoy it all equally. 

Pantone 2728 C 

HOFBRÄUHAUS 

SHANGHAI 

HOFBRÄUHAUS SHANGHAI 


100 % 

HOFBRÄUHAUS 

SHANGHAI 

German Week 2009 

18 th September 2009 | Shanghai Times 

Square 

The 8 th German Week, organised by Shanghai Times 

Square and supported by the Consulate General of 

Germany in Shanghai and the Delegation of German 

Industry & Commerce opened at Shanghai Times 

Square. One part of the Shanghai Tourism Festival, this 

German Week put on display the best of German design, 

industry and contemporary art, as well as food, 

beer and wine, song and dance. 

71 % 

7,5 % 

8,5 % 

4,5 % 

8,5 % 

HOFBRÄUHAUS 

SHANGHAI 

Type: 

Adobe Garamond, semibold 

100 % 



Type: Adobe Garamond, semibold 

41 % 

49 % 

10 % 

Pantone 2728 C Pantone 032 C 

Pantone 871 C 


SOUTH CHINA 

CHAMBER NEWS 

GCC BOARD 


General Manager, Southern China 

Mr. Nico Beilharz* 

Chairman 

German Chamber South China 



Commerce South China 


Ms. Alexandra Voss* 

TCA Ltd. The Cable Assembler 

Dongguan 

CEO/President 

Mr. Frank Jaeger 

Siemens Ltd. China 

Energy Sector - Power Transmission 

Transformer | VA TECH Elin 

Transformer Guangzhou Co. Ltd. 


Mr. Dirk Soete 

C. Melchers GmbH & Co. KG 

Guangzhou & Chongqing 

Representative Offices 

Inspirion GmbH Guangzhou 

Representative Office 

Chief Representative 

Ms. Renate Tietjen 

* All-China Board member 


SOUTH CHINA PAGES 

German Ambassador 

Meets German Business 

Dinner Reception with Dr. Michael Schaefer 

The international business community in 

South China enjoyed one of the top events of 

the year on 4 th of November in Guangzhou. 

Upon invitation of the German Consulate 

in Guangzhou and the German Chamber of 

Commerce • South China, Ambassador Dr. 

Michael Schaefer appeared as the keynote 

speaker at a dinner reception held a the 

Grand Hyatt. Earlier that day, the annual 

meeting of German Heads of Missions in 

China was held in Guangzhou. Welcomed 

by Mr. Nico Beilharz, Chairman of the GCC 

• South China, the heads of all German 

consulates in Greater China and other guests 

of honour provided the perfect framework 

for an evening of exchange and enjoyment. 

Delivering an analytical yet highly 

entertaining speech, Dr. Schaefer gave an 

update on the status and perspective of 

German-Chinese political and economic 

relations. He did not only share his insights 

about the bilateral exchange between the 

two countries but included the relations to 

other countries such as the US or India in 

his analysis as well. Dr. Schaefer was able 

to quote several statements from recent 

speeches by global leaders like Hu Jintao, 

Barack Obama and Angela Merkel and 

deduced their core message and impact on 

global politics. The Ambassador emphasised 

how deeply he was impressed by the 

Dr. Schaefer and Ms. Alexandra Voss, Executive Director GCC • South China 

Special Ambassador Dr. Wolfgang Röhr (right) and 

Mr. Nico Beilharz, Chairman GCC • South China 

remarkable speech of the German Chancellor 

to the US Congress the day before. 

Dr. Schaefer underlined the importance for 

the European countries to speak with one 

voice in order to be heard and taken serious 

by the superpowers China and the United 

States of America. Further strengthening 

the European alliance while maintaining 

a German identity, he defined as the main 

task of Berlin to prepare the ground for a 

continuous prolific dialogue with China. 

In the following conversation with company 

representatives from Guangzhou, Shenzhen 

and Zhuhai, Dr. Schaefer gave insightful 

comments on the development of the Pearl 

River Delta and even submitted a personal 

statement on the newly elected German 

government. The ambassador promised to 

motivate its members to visit South China in 

the near future. 

Event: Status and Perspectives of German- 

Chinese Political and Economic Relations 

Date: 4 th November 2009 

Speaker: Dr. Michael Schaefer | Ambassador 

of Germany to the Peoples’ Republic 

of China 

German Ambassador 

Dr. Michael Schaefer 

addressing the audience

Developments in 

Logistics 

Breakfast Seminar Shenzhen 

Participants at the GCC breakfast seminar at the Crowne Plaza 

Shenzhen received insights from veteran Mr. Armin Rosendahl 

of OBC Service on latest trends and developments in the logistics 

sector. Cost reduction and improving customer satisfaction are key 

issues in international trade. Careful strategic logistical planning 

can help to minimise both distribution costs and delivery time. 

The speaker provided an overview of the current situation of the 

logistic sector in China and gave detailed insights into the role 

of logistics companies for successful supply chain management. 

Based on his over 20 years of industry experience, Mr. Rosendahl 

further gave an outlook on future developments and challenges 

for the sector. Most notably, increased internationalisation of trade 

and sourcing, as well as enhanced data capturing and transfer 

capabilities will 

create opportunities, 

while security 

concerns and green 

initiatives will 

continue to impact 

the industry. 

Event: Logistics in the Future 

Date: 23 rd September 2009 

Speaker: Mr. Armin Rosendahl | Logistics 

Consultant, OBC Service GmbH 

The Crisis and 

Chinese Banks 

Business Seminar Zhuhai 

Whereas business seminars usually take place in conference rooms, 

the GCC l South China invited participants to a renovated historic 

Beishan Hall. In the setting of the 200 year old structure, surrounded 

by art work, speaker Susanne Zhang Pongratz of Raiffeisen Zentralbank 

(RZB) shared her insights on the current impact of the financial 

crisis and provided an overall overview of the Chinese banking sector. 

With 14 years experience in the China banking sector the speaker 

was able to provide the attendees a wealth of knowledge on specialties 

of the Chinese financial system. Compared to many Western 

banks, Chinese banks have weathered the financial crisis very well 

and are now at the centre of the government’s stimulus plan having 

lent RMB 8tr by the end of August 2009. This represents an increase 

of 164% compared to the same period in 2008. However, the massive 

influx of cash is also a concern to the central government. 

After the seminar, 

participants were 

able to enjoy German 

drinks and 

food in Beishan 

Hall’s courtyard. 

Ms. Zhang Pongratz 

was readily available 

to answer more 

detailed questions. 

Event: The financial crisis and its impact on 

the Chinese Banking Sector 


Speakers: Ms. Susanne Zhang Pongratz 

| Chief Representative, Raiffeisen Zentralbank 

Oesterreich AG Zhuhai Representative 

Office 

Events 

Networking Drinks 

Exhibitions 

Business Roundtable 

Interchamber Events 

Galas 

Sporting Competitions 

Oktoberfest 

Special Events 

Publications 

All China website 

GC Ticker 

BusinessForum China 

SouthChina Flash 

Surveys and Studies 

Analysis 

Membership Directory 

Online Directory 


Services 

Market Research 

Mediation and Legal Advice 

Office in Office 

Business Partner Search 

Interpreter Services 

Address Research 

Trade Fairs 

Management and Vocational Training 

German Chamber of Commerce · South China 

中国德国商会·华南区 

YOUR BUSINESS PARTNER IN SOUTH CHINA 

YEARLY PARTNERS 2009 

Benefits 

Consulting and Support 

Lobbying 

Dialogue with German and Chinese Officials 

Cooperation with Trade Associatons 

Web Information Portal 

Preferential Fees for Events 

Discount on Publications and Advertisements 

Promotion of New Members 


2915 Metro Plaza, 183 Tianhe Road (N), Guangzhou 510620, P.R. China 

T: +86-20-8755 2353 | F: +86-20-8755 1889 | E: chamber@gz.china.ahk.de 

217 Chinese Overseas Scholars Venture Building, 

Shenzhen Hi-Tech Industry Park, Shenzhen 


CHAMBER NEWS 

Preparing for the 

Amended Patent Law 

Legal Seminar Guangzhou and Shenzhen 

IP protection is always a key area of concern 

for foreign enterprises, especially those technology-oriented 

companies in the context of 

investing in China. Under the umbrella of 

WTO, legal reforms have been initiated by 

the Chinese government to ensure that local 

IP protections are in line with international 

regulations. The recently amended PRC 

Patent Law is deemed as one of such legal 

innovations and its consequences have come 

to the attention of patent owners. 

Dr. Jenny Luo of Rouse gave a full-scale 

analysis of the current patent practice in China 

and the changes introduced by the third 

revision of the PRC Patent Law. Based on the 

details of the amendments to the Patent Law, 

participants were presented with a complete 

picture of the consequences of the new law 

to gain a better understanding of how they 

should prepare in order to deal with such 

changes and protect their patents. 

MEET THE MEMBER 

What is your personal and business 

background? 

My hospitality career started in the airlines 

business back in the 70’s followed by the 

hotel service industry with posts at The Regent 

Hong Kong, and then the Ritz-Carlton 

and Marriott Hotels respectively. I was the 

General Manager of Marriott’s properties 

in Wuhan and Shenyang before joining The 

Garden Hotel, Guangzhou in 2003 as Hotel 

Manager. Two years later, I opened the 

LNH Hotel Management Company for the 

owner, then re-joined The Garden Hotel 

from March 1st, 2007 holding the capacity 

of General Manager. My management philosophy 

is to balance owner’s relationship, 

guest satisfaction, associates satisfaction 

and financial impact. 

Tell us a little about your company 

and activities in China. 

Enjoying a good reputation for affluent 

cultural background and excellent service, 

The Garden Hotel, Guangzhou set another 

milestone by winning the prestigious Platinum 

Five-Star Award issued by the China 

National Tourism Administration. It is only 

one of three hotels in China and the only 

Chinese brand to receive this significant 

award, which is the highest hospitality 

award in the country. 

Our Hotel is situated on Huanshi Dong 


SOUTH CHINA PAGES 

Event: How to get prepared to the consequences 

of the Amended Patent Law? 

Date: 14 th October 2009 in Guangzhou 

and 15 th October in Shenzhen 

Speakers: Dr. Jenny Luo | International 

Patent Attorney, Rouse 

Road, the hub of No.5 Metro line, which will 

be opened in December 2009. It is also encompassed 

by a wealth of shopping, dining 

and entertainment facilities that are popular 

among tourists as well as the local community. 

What are your expectations with regards 

to the Asian Games in 2010? 

It is a wonderful honour for Guangzhou to 

host the Games and the local government is 

making every effort to get ready. The Garden 

Hotel is the official hotel for the Games and 

we will be hosting dignitaries and heads of 

state from across Asia and around the world. 

What are the most valuable things you 

have learned in the hotel industry? 

We are in the people business and every 

day you have to have the sensitivity to balance 

the needs of owners, management, 

employees but especially the customers. For 

example, if a customer is really upset and 

demands a personal apology from a staff 

member, I or one of our senior managers 

would meet privately with the customer 

and extend our deepest and most sincere 

apologies. No matter what – the customer 

is always right and comes first – so it is imperative 

to find a solution to these types of 

sensitive issues. 

Then there are times when a situation is 

“immoveable” and I and my team have to 

NEW MEMBERS 

SOUTH CHINA 

Mr. Chris Eberle 

Business Manager 

CCJK Technologies Co. Ltd. 

Shenzhen 

' 0755 8611-7878 

* chris.eberle@ccjk.com 

www.ccjk.com 

Mr. Joe Harris 

Private Member 

Guangzhou 

' 020 8351-1681 

* joe.synapse@gmail.com 

Mr. Dieter Oppel 


International Cargo Centre Shenzhen 

Shenzhen 

' 0755 2998-2505 

* sales@iccs.com.cn 

www.iccs.com.cn 

Mr. Marcus Renz 

Head of Quality Department Far East WMF AG 

Heshan 

' 075 0888-8089 

* marcus.renz@wmf.de 

www.wmf.de 

For full contact information and company profiles 

of our new and existing members please visit 

www.german-company-directory.com 

find an immediate and creative solution 

that meets the basic needs of all parties concerned. 

You have to insist on standing firm 

on your core business values as they will see 

you through all of the tough times. 

Ronnie Cheng 

Company: The Garden Hotel, Guangzhou 

Job Title: General Manager 

Year of Foundation: 1985 

Main Business: Accommodation and 

Catering Services

Oktoberfest Shenzhen 

31 st October – 7 th November 2009 

Jointly organised by Crowne Plaza Shenzhen and the German 

Chamber of Commerce • South China, the 4 th Oktoberfest Shenzhen 

proved to be one of the highlights of the event calendar. 

Sponsored by TUV Rheinland, Losberger Tents & Events, BMW, 

Lufthansa, Jade Cargo and Galleon Bar the crowd enjoyed 8 days 

of German music performed by the Münchner Musikanten and 

German beer brewed by Brewmaster Ulrich. Ganbei!!! Photos by 

shenzhenparty.com 

SOUTH CHINA AROUND TOWN 



中德看台 

Schauplatz ZHONG|DE 

The Sino-German Platform for Shanghai Expo 2010 

German industries and German-Chinese commerce are key drivers for the image and identity of Germany in China. 

A highly dynamic urban space will form the perfect backdrop 

for showcasing projects around five interconnected themes: 

UrbanExchange – Delegations, workshops, B2B events, 

lounge area 

UrbanGallery - Design exhibition‚ performance projects 

UrbanAcademy - Student competitions, summer schools 

UrbanCampus - Cultural programs and activities 

for young people 

UrbanStage - Concerts and cultural projects, 

indoor and outdoor stage 


Project partners will benefit from a unique combination of 

success factors 

+ Key location in the heart of Shanghai 

+ Up to 6 months of participation and exposure between May 

and October 2010 

+ Attractive tailor-made options for corporate promotion and 

branding 

+ Top-level patronage and public partnerships 

+ Exceptional value for money 

If your company is interested in further information, please contact: * expo@sh.china.ahk.de | ' 021 6875 8536 ext. 1676 

Initiators 

Cooperation Partners 

Patronage 

MArkUS HEINSDOrff CHrISTOPH HILDEBrAND

EXPO NEWS www.china.ahk.de 

expo in brief 

Expo Provides Ideal Opportunity to Sell Image Globally Construction Ends 

on 48 Pavilions 

The Shanghai 2010 World Expo would provide 

a rare opportunity to build a “Shanghai 

image” and sell the city to the world, top 

global corporate executives said yesterday at 

the 21 st International Business Leaders’ Advisory 

Council. 

“It is not only for the promotion of products 

or infrastructure construction, but also for 

demonstration of services, its academic environment 

and many other strengths of the 

German Media Group 

Visits Expo Bureau 

A seven-member German media group 

visited the Bureau of Shanghai World Expo 

Coordination on 31st October. During the 

meeting with officials of the Bureau’s Communication 

and Promotion Department, 

the group studied many details about Expo 

2010’s environment protection ideas and 

plans. They also learned about the post-Expo 

utilisation of the site and measures of attracting 

Expo visitors. After being informed 

of the application process of journalists for 

covering the Expo, some media chiefs said 

that they will send journalists to Shanghai to 

report Expo 2010 next year. 

Members of the delegation came from German 

media organisations including Rheinische 

Post and Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen 

(ZDF). The delegation was invited by the 

Bureau of Shanghai World Expo Coordination 

and the Information Office of Shanghai 

Municipality. 

city”, said Eckhard Cordes, Chief Executive 

Officer of Metro Group. 

To the glee of council members, their gathering 

with the Shanghai mayor next year will 

take place on 10 th October, during the World 

Expo. The theme of the 2010 event is “To 

Build a Most Dynamic, Innovative and Harmonious 

Shanghai”. 

Source: ShanghaiDaily 

China Pavilion Seeks 200 

Videos 

The search is on for two hundred outstanding 

clips to be condensed into films and 

played on 15 screens in the China Pavilion. 

Themed “Same Time”, the films will showcase 

the work and life of people living in 

different parts of China at the same specific 

moment. 

Entries should last at least 30 seconds in a 

documentary style and with upbeat tune. 

The search will conclude on 4th February 

2010 and works can be uploaded to 

http://2010.qq.com/sametime, 

http://xtudv.univs.cn, 

http://2010.joy.cn/sametime and 

http://expo.tudou.com/sametime. Four 

gold prize winners will be awarded about 

RMB 10,000 each and others whose works 

are selected will win other prizes. 

On 2 nd November, Hong Hao, director 

of the Bureau of Shanghai World Expo 

Coordination announced the World Expo 

Shanghai organiser finished construction 

on the 11 joint and 37 rented pavilions 

for the 2010 event. They will house more 

than 180 participant countries and international 

organisations. 

Construction on the rest five rented pavilions 

will be finished by the end of the 

year, which was delayed because the five 

participants - Peru, Argentina, Colombia, 

Croatia and South Africa – were late in 

signing their participation contracts. 

The organiser said that construction is in 

step with their deadline to finish all the 

pavilions built by the organiser by the 

end of the year. 

The organiser will soon begin interior 

decoration and to plant trees around the 

pavilions, said Li Yinfa, a project manager 

for construction on the joint and 

rented pavilions. 

They will hand over the pavilions to 

participants to arrange their exhibitions 

at the end of the year, Li said. So far, 192 

countries and 50 international organisations 

have confirmed participation in the 

Shanghai Expo. Fifty-four of them will 

build stand-alone pavilions, others will 

rent a pavilion from the organiser or hold 

exhibitions in joint pavilions. 


CoMMUniTY ENVIRONMENT 

CoMMUniTY ENVIRONMENT 

A Vertical Idea 


Reducing 

Your Carbon 

Footprint 

Can Start on 

Your Wall 

No-one ever said that plants must grow plane and from a patch of 

dirt; certainly Peter Küsters never did. From his usual acting grounds 

– landscape construction and engineering with a focus on Green 

Roofs – the Managing Director and owner of Greenlink Küsters discovered 

a second calling two years ago that drove him up the wall. 

When a school in Hong Kong requested an illustrative tool to make 

classroom teaching come alive and demonstrate to its children how 

plants grew, he installed his first commercial Green Wall. The dimensions 

were still small at that time – a total of 50m² – but to Küsters, it 

was the beginning of something big. 

The idea of these living walls grew on him, and is continuously taking 

shape. In his biggest project to date, he transformed an unloved 

metal façade on the campus of the American Concordia School in 

Shanghai this summer. The 170m² Green Wall still rather resembles 

a giant green stubbly beard but is slowly living up to its role with 

anticipating faculty, students and staff keeping a close watch over its 

progress. 

Soft on the Eye and Hard on the Facts 

“The entire Green Walls concept is still in its infancy”, he asserts, “and 

so still lacks hard scientific figures from which to rationally deduce 

its ecological and economical value, but the first applications have 

been so promising that there is no way to deny its potential.” While 

“Green” has become without a doubt the eco-political buzzword of 

the early 21 st century and established itself as a trend generating a 

variety of fashion proposals, its products of invention and innovation 

– from eco-cities over solar panels to wind parks – tend to utilise the 

environment but do not create a green environment themselves. 

Green Walls – artfully vegetated panel systems mounted on a base 

and support structure against building walls – are truly green and 

come with an expansive list of desirable side-effects: they suck up the 

“heat island effect” which any sweltering big city dweller knows all 

too well, buffer temperature fluctuations in the gap space between 

the Wall frame and the building façade to provide insulation in the 

winter and cooling in the summer, improve the overall air quality 

through photosynthesis, pick up dust and noise, will drink your 

waste water, stabilise the moisture content near the buildings, protect 

from exposure and provide an urban habitat to birds and insects.

Last but not least, they are pleasant to look at – finding yourself in 

front of a professionally designed Green Wall, you will discover yourself 

standing in front of it for quite a while. It’s something to look 

at just as much as it is something to look into for anyone seeking to 

bring back a sense of nature – in a cultured form – to the often clinical 

walls of modern architecture while contributing to the green conscience. 

Cities provide ample vertical space to fill with these oases. 

Complex Growing Ground 

Technically speaking, a Green Wall is no more than a modular 

puzzle: synthetic plates mounted on sturdy scaffolding affixed to 

the building wall form the foundation. They are covered with multiple 

layers of a geotextile – felt – which are drawn around countless 

anchor bolts. Two felt layers hide the irrigation system – a watering 

line spanning across the Wall top – and the sandwich of felt plies 

is secured with a mesh trellis. The various plants arrive potted; the 

roots have to be rinsed from the soil before they are placed into individual 

sacks along with gel-filled hydrobeads and then – in a predesigned 

layout – into single pockets horizontally cut into their new 

textile ground. Four to five times a day for about ten minutes, the 

irrigation loop will sprinkle and moisten the Wall. The pump and 

drainage system are fitted into the ground, while the electronic heart 

of it all, the control unit, is positioned inside the respective building. 

A stainless steel frame finally encases the structure. 

It sounds straight-forward – and is fraught with intricacies. After 

seven years of living in China however, Peter Küsters is practiced 

in thinking around the corner to gradually weed out the difficulties 

with a combination of vision, expertise, research and precision. 

Where technically possible, he uses recycled materials, diligently 

seeking out primarily German suppliers who are able to match his 

environmental standards with his durability and safety requirements 

– his Green Walls are made to last and stay in place. Some components 

are custom-manufactured. 

Farming on Innovation 

Green Wall maintenance is a different matter, so further efforts go into 

exploring how to fool-proof and simplify its mechanical processes for 

the customer. While in South China, you won’t have to ask a plant 

twice to sprout in the subtropical climate, the more reserved Beijing 

plant might assert additional warmth. This winter, the Greenlink 

team will pick up where last winter’s research paused on environmentally 

friendly solutions to this issue, as well. 

On a parcel of land out in Shunyi which is lovingly nicknamed “The 

Farm”, his partner Carey Ma is always working on brewing up and 

enhancing the secret alchemy that is paramount to any flourishing 

Green Wall: plants that grow on felt require their own, special food 

menu. The hydroponics expert composed the nutrient solution that is 

infused in the irrigation water and nourishes the living green tapestry. 

Besides geographical and seasonal considerations in the species selection 

for a Green Wall, the sky’s the limit…well, almost. “You can 

virtually grow anything vertically – even tomatoes or your herbal 

garden…however, trees are not recommended due to statics safety 

reasons”, Küsters points out with a wink. 

“A Green Wall is by far more intriguing than a Green Roof”, he details 

his personal fascination with the concept, “anyone can enjoy its 

extraordinary properties – a Green Roof with its restricted access, 

passersby might only coincidentally discover by a single plant or 

ENERGY SAVING TIPS FROM VIESSMANN 

德 

国 

菲 

斯 

曼 

节 

能 

小 

贴 

士 


branch that happens to lurk forth from the rooftop edge from below. 

Green Roof construction is well-established back in Europe; I absolutely 

enjoy being one of the small business pioneers on this new 

and largely uncharted green territory.” 

Maybe we were able to plant a seed of inspiration in your mind, 

too: the next time you ponder going green with your corporation, 

company or institution, consider growing a Wall over your carbon 

footprint – for that, it is always the right season. JNS 

Solar control units ensure that heat from 

solar collectors is utilised as effectively 

as possible for either heating domestic 

hot water or swimming pool water or 

for central heating backup. Save energy, 

reduce heating costs! 

©Patric Blanc 

Viessmann Heating Technology Beijing Co., Ltd. 

Tel: (86 10) 8049 0888 

Fax: (86 10) 8049 6336 

www.viessmann.cn 

info@viessmann.cn 

2009/2010 December - January 69 

节能小贴士_8P.indd 7 2009-7-2 10:58:13

CoMMUniTY 

Mengjing enjoying German lifestyle… 

As the hot, humid days of August arrived 

in Shanghai, the four Chinese high school 

participants of the 2009-2010 AFS high school 

exchange programme eagerly awaited their 

departure for a one-year stay in Germany. 

The students were off to attend one year of 

high school in Germany, living with German 

families and experiencing a new culture, a new 

country and to make new foreign friends. AFS 

Shanghai invited previous participants of the 

programme Mengjing Mao and Xinyun Zhang 

to talk about their Germany experience. 

Equipped with Independence 

Xinyun just returned to Shanghai after a year 

abroad. Mengjing has been back for one year. 

Both of them left Shanghai senior high schools 

and studied abroad after their first year in high 

school. When Mengjing came back, she entered 

her second year of high school, but Xinyun 

went straight to her third year. If you asked 

Xinyun about her German exchange experience, 

she would summarise it as “happy, challenging, 

different, rewarding, fulfilling. In my 

German school I got myself the highest scores 

for almost all subjects. Learning wasn’t boring 

at all”, she adds. 

In music class, Xinyun played Chinese instruments 

and even demonstrated some Kongfu 

in PE class. She also enjoyed learning different 

skills and knowledge from her classmates. 


TRAINING & EDUCATION 

pening a Window 

to the World 

Alex with his new Chinese family 

In March, 2006, AFS Germany and Shanghai Roots & Shoots 

cooperatively founded AFS Shanghai Roots & Shoots to dedicate 

themselves to building a more just and peaceful world through 

intercultural exchange and learning. 

“Language was a challenge for me. I only spent 

two months learning German before I left for 

Germany, but I am completely fluent after one 

year.” 

One year is ample time for students to experience 

and adapt to another culture. In Germany, 

they live with a local family and celebrate German 

holidays. German fathers and mothers 

encourage their kids to actively engage with 

the community and be close to nature, to learn 

wisdom beyond books. In school, students are 

given autonomy, with the teacher providing 

guidance as opposed to instruction. To Xinyun 

and Mengjing this was a huge challenge at 

first. Their attitudes had to change from passively 

accepting the directions of others to taking 

their own initiative, not only in school, but 

in making friends, finding their passion and 

developing their personalities. With the light 

of a different culture illuminating a previously 

unseen spectrum, Xinyun and Mengjing adopted 

an enthusiasm for communicating with 

others and reached a level of self-reliance and 

self-confidence that helped expand their horizons. 

Both are thankful for the scholarship and 

support provided by AFS and Shanghai Roots 

& Shoots that enabled them to experience a 

wonderful life in a different culture. 

More Than a Place to Stay 

Ms. Tang is a teacher in Shanghai. In 2007, she 

and her family including her sixth grade son 

Shifan hosted Alexander from Denmark to participate 

in the Community Service Programme 

in Shanghai for over half a year. By the end 

of his stay, Alexander and Shifan had become 

inseparable friends. At the beginning, however, 

they were hardly able to communicate because 

Alexander virtually spoke no Chinese and 

Shifan only spoke very little English. Ms. Tang 

spent one to two hours every night teaching 

Alexander Chinese, and after a month, they 

could begin having simple conversations. Alexander 

quickly became a part of the family, 

playing with Shifan and teaching him English, 

picking up Ms. Tang from work and Shifan 

from school and ravenously yet happily eating 

the food prepared by Shifan’s grandma. On the 

other hand, Ms. Tang also noticed that her son 

learned a lot from Alexander – manners, selfreliance, 

self-restraint and trust of others. As 

Ms. Tang put it, “we hosted Alexander to open 

a window to the world.” 

Through living with Shifen and his mother, 

Alexander fell in love with Chinese culture and 

language. He has set this as his lifelong goal: to 

come back to China and improve his Chinese 

language capability in the future. Upon leaving, 

Ms. Tang said to him, “here is your home. 

You are welcome back whenever you want.” 

This is such an interesting window, through 

which Chinese students can live and learn in 

Germany, or Chinese families can host foreign 

students. Summed up in a nutshell: We can 

experience the world, and the world also experiences 

us. 

AFS (American Field Service), founded in 

1919, is one of the world’s oldest and largest 

international nonprofit exchange organisations. 

Shanghai Roots & Shoots, founded 

in 1999, is a NPO focusing on educating 

youths about environmental issues and humanitarian 

values. To look into the possibility 

of participating in their programmes, please 

contact: ' 021 6361-1708 | * prgm. 

shanghai@afs.org | www.jgi-shanghai.org

Training Calendar 

Date Titel 

Beijing 

Until 22 nd March German Course A1 

Until 23 rd March German Course A2 

Until 22 nd March German Course B1.1 

Until 24 th March German Business Communication 

3 rd -4 th December Advanced Project Management 

11 th December Selling with Stories 

11 th -12 th January Internal Control and Auditing 

Shanghai 

2 nd -3 rd December How to Keep Your Best Employees* 

(in cooperation with French Chamber of Commerce) 

24 th -25 th December Working Smart with MS Project 

11 th -12 th January Working Smart with MS PowerPoint 

13 th January Successful Design with MS PowerPoint 

14 th -15 th January Bridging the Cultural Gap 

21 st -22 nd January Effective Selling Skills (Basic) 

21 st -22 nd January Working Smart with MS Excel 

South China 

16 th December Communication and Interpersonal Skills 

21 st December Building Team Effectiveness 

12 th January Stress & EQ Management 

18 th January Creative Problem Solving & Decision Making 

19 th -20 th January wKey Account Management 

* new courses 

GCC members receive discounted rates on training courses. For further 

information please contact: 

Beijing 

Ms. Yang Xiao 

' 010 6539-6681 

6 010 6539-6689 

* training@bj.china.ahk.de 

Shanghai 

Mr. Ma Zhichao 

' 021 5081-2266 ext.1638 

Ms. Cai Wenjia 

' 021 5081-2266 ext.1824 

* training@sh.china.ahk.de 

South China 

Ms. Xenia Deng 

' 020 8755-8206 

6 020 8755-1889 

* deng.xenia@ 

gz.china.ahk.de 

schanghai 

"Beliebteste China- 

Informationsbörse" (ZEIT) 

Beijing Training Highlights 

Internal Control and Auditing 

This training is held in cooperation with InterauditAsia and targets 

finance managers, controllers and accountants, consultants or any 

other professional in the field of internal control either on a compliance, 

finance or performance perspective in China. 

German Business Communication - Wirtschaftskommunikation 

In order to meet the increasing demand for German as a second foreign 

language among employees of German companies, DE International is 

organising this professional German language training in cooperation 

with the Goethe-Institut China. German Business Communication is an 

advanced training targeted at raising participants’ listening, speaking, 

reading and writing skills in German to a very high level of proficiency. 

Shanghai Training Highlights 

Effective Selling Skills (Basic) 

Fundamental consultative selling skills are most important to sell 

effectively. Focused on developing the business understanding required 

to develop accounts profitably, this training is designed for 

all sales functions and sales oriented people with basic management 

experience. The participants of this two-day training in Chinese 

will learn the skills to conduct an effective business issue and result 

oriented approach to the customers. The targeted outcomew of the 

training is for participants to adopt a methodology for winning complex 

and competitive sales opportunities and to learn how to concentrate 

on the important aspects during the sales process. 

South China Training Highlights 


Building Team Effectiveness 

The most effective way to meet challenges on the job is through 

teamwork. At this workshop you will learn how to create and manage 

winning teams and how to lead them to higher productivity and 

greater problem-solving ability. 

Creative Problem Solving & Decision Making 

This exciting programme features a carefully structured series of 

exercises, experiences and cognitive learning that will turn you into 

a creative problem solver and decision maker. You will learn how to 

capitalise your creativity, to solve problems, and to master big challenges 

at work more effectively. 

com 

d e u t s c h s p r a c h i g e c h i n a - p l a t t f o r m 

" Deutsche nutzen die Job- und Wohnungsbörse 

von schanghai.com [...] Tendenz: steigend" (ARD) 

"Wichtigste deutschsprachige 

Austauschplattform" (Dt. Club Shanghai) 

Stellenanzeigen/Job ads: USD 20.- 

Post vacancies directly at www.schanghai.com/karriere 

Werbebanner/Ad banners: EUR 160.- 

Ask for our media-kit at team@schanghai.com 


CoMMUniTY SPORT 

A Nationwide Boom 

Sports are not only important in maintaining our health, but they 

are also in fashion for those who wish to live a well rounded life. All 

over the world countries are trying to develop sports and involve 

their youth into the activities; China is no different. As a rapidly 

developing country, China is taking great effort to promote sports. 

According to a government report published in September 2009, 

the country has made good progress: Sport facilities are available 

in urban and rural areas. At present, there are over 850,000 sports 

grounds of all kinds in China and 176 national sports associations, 

provincial or municipal sports federations. 23 social sports guidance 

centers of the provincial level have been set up. There are around 

210,000 urban or rural sports guidance stations or fitness training 

centers in the country, and 3,092 sports clubs for the youngsters. 

German Pros at Guangzhou Football Camp 

To develop sports, China will need trained specialists: people who 

can provide youngsters with appropriate theoretical and practical 

training. Despite of the fact that China is paying increasingly more 

attention to educating specialists like these, there is still a deficiency 

of professionals, particularly for football. One solution to this problem 

is to invite foreign coaches to train a team, or sending young 

talents abroad for the same purpose. 

The German company CONEXUS, supported by the German Football 

Association (DFB) and in partnership with the local Football 

Association (FA), initiated the first Guangzhou Football Camp in August 

2009. The main purpose was to train the U17 and U19 Guangzhou 

teams as well as other local football coaches. All classes were 

held by German coach Eckhard Krautzun and his assistant David 

Wagner. Mr. Krautzun has trained several German National League 

teams and won the German Cup with the 1. FC Kaiserslautern in 

1996. Mr. Wagner himself used to play for Schalke 04 and was part 


Talents 

Wanted 

German Experts Lend Helping 

Hand in Training Young 

Football Talent in South China 

of the team to win the UEFA Cup 1997. Above all, Mr. Krautzun has 

many years of experience in training abroad. He was in charge of 

leading a training camp for promising Chinese talents in Germany 

in 2006, which helped prepare the younger generation of players for 

the 2008 Beijing Olympics. In 2007, he acted as an advisor to the Chinese 

women's team. 

Football School to Open in 2010 

During just one week of the football camp, the difference in style of 

training and the kids’ appreciation of the football exercise became 

apparent. Because of this, all parties agreed to arrange a second camp 

in the near future. Also planned is a youth tournament between local 

teams and scouting programmes to find talented candidates in other 

provincial cities. Mr. Michael Blohm, Director of CONEXUS, signed a 

Letter of Intent with the local government solidifying a ten year plan 

of cooperation, which will see the establishment of a football school. 

It will be an institution with a classical high level educational system 

and additional foreign language classes. The school will pay close 

attention to sports education and modern medical treatment with 

football training to be conducted by experienced German coaches. 

Located in the Yan Zi Gang stadium area of Guangzhou, the school 

will have a capacity of around 300 kids aged 7 to 16. Applications 

from all over China will be accepted from January 2010 and the first 

semester will start in September, right before the Asian Games. 

Ms. Katerina Abramicheva is working with Conexus Hong Kong 

Ltd. The company’s activities cover football training camps and 

football schools supported by DFB, sport management, events and 

marketing, as well as transfers of players. 

' 020 2831-7431 | * katerina.abramicheva@conexus-ltd.hk

Tea by the Season 

A Swedish customer once asked if we should vary our 

tea intake by season. He said the Swedes tend to drink 

more of red wine in the winter and more of white wine 

in the summer. Does the same apply to Chinese tea? 

According to Traditional Chinese Medicine, tea - in its unprocessed 

form - is cool in nature. However, different types of tea acquire different 

properties according to how it is made. Generally speaking, you 

want to drink “cooling” tea in the summer and “warming” tea in the 

winter. Here are some popular Chinese approaches to the problem. 

Spring 

After the hibernation of the long winter, let’s celebrate the onset of 

spring with the harvesting of the green tea! This is the high point 

of the tea season, and you can't miss the anticipation of the Nation 

for the first spring harvest - known in China as the Chun Cha (春 

茶). Green tea is cooling. The female principle means it detoxifies 

and cleanses. It contains high concentration of antioxidants such as 

EGCG, a miracle cure for many illnesses. It is great for clearing your 

body of excess phlegm caused by allergies. 

Summer 

Moving on to summer, the need for a cooling tea begins to dominate 

the mind. While your green tea will continue to taste great, why not 

also try to have a cup of fruity white tea? The most ying of Chinese 

tea, white tea is a bit like a raw salad (as supposed to a Chinese stir 

fry). Little heating is applied during production. This process is very 

dormant: instead of roasting, leaves are left to mature at room temperature 

to allow chemical changes to take place. 

Autumn 

As the air chills and leaves start falling in the autumn, oolong tea 

begins to make its way to the market. In the southern province of 

Fujian, especially, this is the time when the most fragrant Tieguanyin 

tea (铁观音) is harvested. Unlike green tea, which is unoxidised, oolong 

teas come in various levels of oxidation. They come in a range of 

frequencies. The lightly oxidised oolong is like a violin, high in aroma 

and light in body. The heavily oxidised oolong is like a cello, light 

in aroma and rich in body. The more heavily oxidised oolong tea is 

usually roasted. This process imparts “fire” to the tea, making it more 

warming. During autumn, you may want something more warming 

than green tea, and there are many types of oolongs to choose from. 

Winter 

If you are looking for a warming tea to shelter you from the bitter 

cold, then you may want to turn to a dark, roasted tea. A dark 

roasted tea can take the form of a semi-oxidised oolong tea or a fully 

oxidised black tea. In China, there are various names assigned to 

such treatment of tea. The proper name for a roasted tea is hongbei 

(烘焙), which means oven-roasted. It is also more commonly known 

as zhongguo, which means “strongly fired” or shu, which means 

“cooked”. A high grade is neither astringent nor bitter. It has a body 

that is thick and rich. Flavours include chocolate and charcoal, with 

many layers of floral aroma. Durability is very high. You can usually 

infuse the tea leaves for more than five to nine times. 

Which Winter Tea? 

HEALTH 


The southern provinces of Fujian and Guangdong are the undisputed 

masters of dark, roasted tea. They love to drink tea gongfu style using 

a Yixing tea set. The most famous of roasted oolong tea is probably 

the Yancha, popularly known in the West as Rock Tea. The King 

of Wuyi teas is known as the Dahongpao. The first medallist of the 

Beijing Olympic 2008 was awarded the Dahongpao harvested from 

the original 600-year-old tea bushes. Another roasted black tea worth 

seeking out is the Keemun, which is fruity with hints of pine, dried 

plum and floweriness. 

Julian Tai is co-founder of the China-based tea site Amazing-greentea.com. 

To celebrate the arrival of the 2009 autumn harvest, he is 

providing free samples of two Tieguanyin King teas to the first 20 

requests by readers of GC Ticker. He can be contacted at julian@ 

amazing-green-tea.com. 


CoMMUniTY FOOD 

Dough Can be Wrapped 

in Many Shapes 

Your Culinary Compatriot from 

North China Examines a Friendly 

Food Fight Between Neighbours 

It is highly advisable – especially when it 

comes to street food – to follow local customs. 

When in Rome, eat as the Romans 

eat – or, rù xiāng suí sú, as the Chinese say. 

Street food is not a topic you might expect 

from your average food column, but what 

our streets in North China have to offer in 

terms of inexpensive, nutritious and simply 

delicious little morsels of local fare, should 

not go unnoticed. Here, opinions can be 

highly partial: the manner in which various 

fillings are wrapped in dough can divide 

two cities. Asking for Jiaozi on Tianjin streets 

will most certainly produce raised eyebrows, 

as “Tianjiners will eat Baozi, only Beijingers 

eat Jiaozi” – a quote that you will hear often 

when inquiring about where to eat Jiaozi in 

our neighbouring city. The Tianjiner is likely 

to look down on the Beijing-wrapped dough 


ingot with a smug expression and point 

out that Baozi are in fact Tianjin’s favourite. 

Merely a difference in shape for the uneducated 

foreigner, for the educated street food 

connoisseur, the difference lies in the thickness 

of the dough, the texture of the filling, 

and the cooking process. 

While it is common knowledge that the 

Baozi is to Tianjin what the Jiaozi is to Beijing, 

it is also true that the Baozi might not 

have gained such popularity had it not been 

for the entrepreneurship of Goubuli, the 

restaurant chain that made the Baozi famous 

throughout China. And while Beijingers introduce 

the Jiaozi as a truly Beijing speciality 

to foreigners and Chinese tourists, we cannot 

deny that the Jiaozi and more, the actual 

entire Jiaozi-making process, forms an 

integral part of annual Chinese New 

Year customs throughout the country; 

therefore, Beijing’s exclusive claim on 

them cannot go undisputed. 

Culinary patriotism - as any other form 

of patriotism - does happen, especially 

when confronted with the Other. A 

Tianjiner might put up a fight when being 

force-fed a Jiaozi, but not for long, as 

he will yield and swear revenge and bring all 

varieties of Baozi down on his Beijing fellow. 

Nobody really minds, mind you, as it is yet 

just another simple excuse for gathering a 

group of friends and eat. One could even 

wonder if all this culinary patriotism in 

China doesn’t exist only to ensure enough 

opportunities to gather as many people as 

you possibly can to eat and feast. KSB

Shanghai Dog 

Self-published | Melanie Tu, Giuseppe Ciaola, Lynn Lee & Armand Kidouchim | First edition 

2010 | 210 pages | Chinese and English | Available for RMB 200 from Melanie 

Tu at melanie@lafongstyle.com 

Shanghai Dog is a book truly made 

for dog lovers. It focuses on the stories 

of 128 individual dogs and their 

owners with short descriptions, stories 

and beautiful pictures dedicated 

to each one. It is not a novel to read 

through, but the minimalist plain 

white cover with a silver imprinted title 

makes this great for a coffee table. 

Shanghai Dog is perfect for picking 

up and paging through with anyone who enjoys dogs, photography 

or just by yourself to pass some time. Aside from the individual dog 

owners’ stories and anecdotes, the collection also features poetry, 

some short stories and lots of information on caring for the fourlegged 

friends. The last few pages are resources for people with 

dogs in Shanghai such as websites, pet hospitals and even some “Pets 

Friendly Places in Shanghai”. 

This book is all about fun, but with the deeper mission to reduce the 

mistrust of people in Shanghai towards dogs and to educate them on 

the proper handling of them. The project has been made possible by 

the efforts of a team of creative and hard working people. Each story 

is real, with the dog owners opening their homes to contribute to a 

good cause. All the proceeds from Shanghai Dog are for non-profit 

purposes. The funds raised will be allocated to veterinary hospitals 

for the treatment of the sick and homeless dogs of Shanghai. 

Luxury China: Market Opportunities 

and Potential 

John Wiley & Sons | Michel Chevalier & Pierre Lu | September 2009 

300 pages, English, USD 29.95 | ISBN: 978-0-470-82341-5 

As China’s economy surges ahead, the 

growing urban-affluent segment is luring 

luxury goods providers worldwide. China is 

currently the world’s third largest consumer 

of luxury goods, just next to Japan and the 

USA. It accounts for 12% in luxury consumer 

goods sales worldwide, up from a mere 1% 

just five years ago. Fast-rising disposable incomes 

of the Chinese have and will continue 

to fuel this increasing appetite for riches – 

with the world’s top brands jumping in to 

make the most of the opportunity. 

Luxury China hones in on the prospects for luxury brands in China, 

and provides insights on this luxury market and how to best exploit 

its tremendous potential. This comprehensive guide addresses key 

issues such as the size of the Chinese luxury market, Chinese luxury 

consumer behaviour and their preferences, critical on-the-ground issues 

such as market entrance strategies, elective retailing, successful 

communication and advertising strategies, and the pertinent topic 

of effective campaigns against counterfeits in China. Illustrated with 

concrete business cases in different product categories, the book can 

also serve as a detailed benchmark for marketers and managers to 

check against their current situation and devise their plans for further 

market expansion. 

NEW BOOKS 

The Tao of Business 

Using ancient Chinese philosophy to survive and prosper in times of crisis 

China Economic Review Publishing (HK) for Earnshaw Books| Ansgar Gerstner | First edition 

2009 | 175 pages, English | ISBN: 978-988-18154-7-7 

“The Tao of Business” delivers exactly 

what you would expect from a book of 

that title: applying the teachings of Taoism 

(Daoism) to a business setting. What 

sets this book apart is not the topic of its 

content, but the depth to which the book 

explores it in what is a relatively small 

number of pages. 


Do not let this simple explanation fool 

you, this book is not about making money 

(well, not entirely). It is a true examination 

on what the Tao can teach us about 

living in today’s fast pace world. It covers 

a wide range of topics from building a 

business and managing it, to simply dealing 

with the basic stresses that come from 

working in an office. Accompanying these 

lessons is always either a passage from the 

Daodejing or a short story from the Zhuangzi selected by the author. 

Dr. Gerstner has drawn upon his wealth of knowledge as not only an 

expert on the Tao, but also as a martial arts trainer to write this book 

with bits of wisdom regarding training and even Feng Shui sprinkled 

throughout the pages. It may not have the latest stock insider tips, but 

when it comes to getting a promotion or just getting through a day at 

the office, “The Tao of Business” can assist you along your way. 

Your documentation partner in China 

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www.haas-publikationen.de 


CoMMUniTY 


ART & CULTURE 

hThe famous Yu Yuan Teahouse 

in Shanghai was a particularly 

popular motif for postcards from 

China 

How did you have the idea to collect postcards and in 

particular postcards from China? 

When purchasing some historical postcards for my previous book 

“Asia in Those Days”, one card displayed Singapore’s famous 

“Orchard Road” as a tree-lined path with an ox carriage. Discovering 

the differences between then and now and seeing other locations in 

Asia known to me today through these 100 year old tiny postcards 

were fascinating. This was the start of a passion, which came close to 

an addiction and ended in a “craze” over the last 15 years. 

Where did you find and purchase all these postcards? 

I travelled to France and Italy several times and visited the largest 

postcard traders at the time before Asia and later China became 

the main focus in my collection. I was still lucky enough to be able 

to purchase larger collections on Asia “en block”, sometimes up to 

several hundred cards at once. Old postcards relating to Asia are 

particularly rare, only a very few exist and none of them in Asia. 

This is due to the fact that the majority of early postcard production 

was based in Europe and also due to the extreme humidity in Asia, 

which no paper can withstand for a longer period of time. Postcards 

were sent back by Europeans in Asia to their families and friends 

or brought back home in large leather-albums. Today Asians are 

starting to discover the art markets and to collect; particularly in 

China where stamp and postcard collections had to be burned 

publicly on the street during the Cultural Revolution. 

What would you say is special about postcards? 

A Histori 

from the 

Kingdom 

Exploring the Fascination a 

in an Interview with Collec 

Recently Published Coffee T 

More than 100 years ago postcards revolutionised the world’s 

communication. Postcards made open communication possible, 

with anyone being able to send or receive short messages. Before 

then, no one knew much about what happened on the other side of 

the world, or even how people, towns and sceneries looked. Hence 

the “Golden Age of the Postcards” from 1900-1914 initiated the first 

ever sending of pictorial images on a worldwide scale and brought 

everyone a little closer together. 

During this “Golden Age”, where were all the postcards 

coming from? 

Due to its supremacy in the printing industry, Germany lead the 

world’s postcard production in the early 1900s, at times accounting 

for three quarters of total production. Leipzig, Dresden and Berlin 

were the strongholds with about 25 large postcard producers and 10 

manufacturers specialised in making leather-bound albums. In 1900, 

about 1mn postcards were produced by 30,000 workers in Germany. 

In the following decade, the so called “Golden Age of the Postcards”, 

the industry became an important employer for thousands of 

employees in the printing industry. With World War I in 1914 came 

the end of that era. Following two wars, a new media era with films, 

cinema, radio and TV emerged, while postcards lost attraction and 

attention. 

What about postcards was the driving force behind their 

“Golden Age”? 

Next to the news, the pictures on the cards were very important. 

Good at drawing attention, they fostered the collection craze and 

sales. A postcard collection could actually be used to initiate a home 

invitation. Holiday gatherings were directed to locations where 

nice postcards were on sale, and a visit to a new location was only 

considered after receiving a postcard from there. 

What can we learn about the time period a postcard 

comes from? 

The images of a time period can help display contemporary 

thoughts. During this time, European nations ventured out to cut 

the far-away-world into spheres of their own influence. The French

All photos by Wiechmann Aiette-Shagal 

CoMMUniTY 

Better Life – Better Future 

Last year, Beijing has surprised and fascinated 

not only the world of sports with hosting the 

Olympic Games on a grand scale, titled ‘One 

World, One Dream’. 

In the 100-years-history of world exhibitions, 

Shanghai is expected to set new standards 

with the upcoming EXPO 2010 too: Over 240 

participating countries and organisations 

– more than ever before – will draw an 

estimated 70mn visitors to a site covering an 

area of 5.28km² - new dimensions in every 

respect. Better City, Better Life will also be a 

remarkable mirror reflecting the outstanding 

international cooperating engagements in this 

country. 4,800 German-invested companies, 

for example, are active here as partners in 

countless fields – some of them for more than 

twenty five years already. 

Over the next twelve years, China will be 

changing even more than it has changed 

during the last three decades. 

Showcasing Changes 


ART & CULTURE 

1979, one man, one vision. Nothing is impossible. Thirty years ago, 

Deng Xiao Ping wanted his country to become part of the fast developing 

western world. One generation later, China has friends all over the world, 

makes investments in many economies abroad and maintains bilateral 

relations with 171 countries. 

‘People Creating the Future - An Exhibition 

of Visionaries’ is a documentary, which 

makes this process transparent for us. 

Through interviews and statements, video 

contributions, photography and print 

editions, the project is showing the people, 

who shape this future. People from all 

different groups of society and international 

fields are involved in this development. 

Leading personalities explain their visions, 

determinations and intentions. Portraits 

of companies and their representatives 

communicate motivations and future projects. 

In a new presentation format – a crossover 

between art exhibition and information fair – 

the authentic material will be put on display. 

Participating companies will be able to 

display their products in individually 

designed areas, allowing visitors to have 

a closer look at their products through 

stimulating interactive ways of perception. 

The first platform and equally a highlight of 

the exhibition will be around the Shanghai 

World Expo. After that, ‘People Creating 

the Future’ will travel around the country 

to other major centres of China’s growth 

and transformation. In line with its dynamic 

environment, the trendsetting cultural tour 

will continue to grow and change as more 

and more portraits of visionaries are added as 

the show travels. 

The art project was started as part of the 

official Beijing 2008 Olympic Cultural 

Programme, presenting the exhibition 

‘Devour My Heart’ at The-Non art Museum 

Beijing by Wang Huaxiang, consisting of 80 

pieces by eight international artists. 

During 

the long 

span from 

now until 

2 0 2 0 , 

‘People 

Creating 

the Future 

- An Exhibition of Visionaries’ will tour global 

cultural capitals. London, host of the next 

Olympic Games in 2012, will be an important 

destination of the journey. 

TOGETHER 

在一起 

PEOPLE CREATING 

THE FUTURE 

A new website will present entertainment and 

relevant information in different languages 

concurrent with the exhibition, documenting 

the progress of the project.The exceptional 

presentations show many facettes of this 

mysterious culture arising from a fascinating 

history and living the future. 

The tour will let countries discover a new 

China with its new partners. Thereby the 

project becomes a complex instrument for 

understanding. 

reinhold Wiechmann Aiette-Shagal is a 

multi-disciplinary artist, curator and photographer 

from Germany. He curated the 

highly-acclaimed installation ‘Devour My 

Heart’ in Hamburg’s Old Elbe River Tunnel 

in 2007. Venue operators and corporate 

partners creating the future are invited 

to be presented. For further information, 

please contact: '136 8166-5494 

* washagal@hotmail.com

Exhibition 

6 th –13 th December 2009, 

10.00am–6.00pm 

Art Scene Warehouse, 

2/F Bldg No 4, 

50 Moganshan Road 

www.artscenewarehouse.com 

For further information, please contact Fanny Hoffmann- 

Loss at the gmp Shanghai Representative Office 

'021 5465-5151 ext. 220 

* fhoffmann@gmp-architekten.de 

It was a very special day in 1999 when 

German architects gmp won the competition 

for the Nanning International Convention 

and Exhibition Centre (photo) in China. 

That was also the year in which the UIA 

International Architects Union first held its 

world congress in Communist China; and 

the year when gmp opened an architectural 

exhibition in a private art museum in 

China. It was the first Western European 

architectural firm to do so. 

Today, ten years on, gmp can look back with 

some pride at a decade of achievements. 

Of over 340 competitions, 30 projects have 

been completed, and over 45 are under 


construction or in planning. A city for 

800,000 people is among the portfolio, as 

are theatres, sports stadia, opera houses, 

exhibition centres and museums (among 

them, the National Museum in Beijing). With 

offices in Shanghai, Beijing and Shenzhen 

keeping a planning workforce of 120 people 

busy, gmp has not only managed to establish 

itself as a German firm but is also in demand 

for its “planned in Germany” architecture. 

An exhibition in Shanghai’s Moganshan 

Lu art district from 6 th –13 th December pays 

tribute to gmp’s commitment and the clients’ 

confidence in architecture distinct from the 

mainstream. 

gmp – Ten Years in China 

© Jan Siefke 

A Special Exhibition in Shanghai Invites Architecture Lovers 


CoMMUniTY TRAVEL 

To the paradise - please follow this way 

Another 

Spelling for 

Paradise: 

Aotearoa 

Suddenly so close: New 

Zealand is only half a day’s 

flight away from China 

Christchurch is the largest city on the South Island 


Natives call it the land of the long white cloud. 

Visiting is a must if you take a shine to nature, 

tranquillity and vastness. This is mixed with not 

only very kind people, but also thousands of 

friendly baaing sheep. 

It was in 1865 when the German explorer Julius von Haast named a 

glacier of the Southern Alps – running across the southern island of 

New Zealand - after Emperor Franz Josef I of Austria. Von Haast had 

originally travelled the island in 1858 to research the possibility of 

forming a suitable colony for German emigrants. At that time he was 

not striving at all to become the famous scientist he eventually did. 

Germans Join the “Kiwis” 

A good one and a half centuries later, there are more and more 

Germans who decide to spend the rest of their lives on one of the 

two main islands. To many it is a kind of dream to “escape” here, 

not alone because of the country’s remote location. There are plenty 

of other obvious reasons to fall in love with “God’s own country”, 

a name that was given to New Zealand by its inhabitants, amicably 

referred to as ‘Kiwis’ around the world. For many immigrants the 

love affair began as tourists, when discovering the country by car or 

campervan, as currently close to three million visitors do every year. 

Sheep and Cows Awaiting You 

“If you have been to Norway, Ireland and Switzerland, you won’t 

find too much new there”, is a common deterring statement heard 

about the island. Yet the mentioned countries are quite far away 

from each other in Europe, whereas you can find the best of all 

of them only a few hundred kilometres apart in New Zealand: 

fjords, mountains, rivers and green as far as your eyes reach. Not to 

mention the tens of thousands of friendly sheep that populate the 

meadows and the cosily ruminating cows among them. This idyllic 

image does not even include the beaches yet! The longest distance 

to the coastline never exceeds 110kms in New Zealand. Especially in 

the warmer northern part there are plenty of amazing beaches. While 

some are exposed to the sunbathing crowds, others are tucked away 

beneath cliffs and rocks, hardly accessible but worth all the effort of 

those who still try. 

Never Forget to Pay Respect 

Beyond scenery, there are heaps of wonders to add to your to-do list 

in New Zealand. From the still vivid Maori culture, geothermal areas 

and hot springs in the volcanic zone, to the vineyards, mountains and 

extraordinary biodiversity, the list continues with the possibility to 

swim with dolphins, hike for several days on hidden tracks or watch 

whales in their natural environment. These sights are complemented 

by picturesque cities and villages, all of them inhabited by kind 

people welcoming strangers with a warm “Haere mai”, or, at least 

a jovial “hello”. New Zealanders are not only very friendly, but also 

seem to be very clever. Although tourism plays a major role in the 

country’s economy, adding about ten percent to the GDP, Aotearoa 

– its old Maori name - is far from kneeling down to this sector. On 

the contrary, tourists are expected to pay respect to this paradise. 

The Kiwis love their country and are well aware of its beauty and 

uniqueness, sparing no effort to preserve it. You may sometimes 

wish you could move faster than the small winding country highway 

permits. You might expect the ferries to run more frequently so you 

would not have to plan ahead that far. Or you might hope to find five 

star accommodations on your way – stop. The speed of life in New

Zealand is different. It may even be the secret behind the impression 

that New Zealand seems too good to be true. 

So Much to See, More to Miss 

One frequently asked question for travellers is whether to travel 

both islands or concentrate on one, and if so which of them. Even 

though the majority tends to vote for the southern island, there is 

no definite answer to this question. Given you go for a once-in-alifetime 

travel experience, it may feel hard to skip half of the country. 

The dilemma is simple but true: whatever hidden spot you discover, 

you will always miss dozens of magnificent places at the same time. 

On the bright side – no matter what you have to skip, what remains 

will still reward you with an awesome adventure. 

Franz Josef Glacier for example is a stunning sight and definitely 

worth including in your trip. Together with nearby Fox Glacier, it 

cuts through dramatic glacial valleys and flows into a temperate 

rainforest. It was not too long ago when the two giants reached the 

Tasman Sea. And still, with many glaciers retreating elsewhere, these 

two continue to puzzle as they keep growing from time to time. Both 

of them are best discovered by helicopter or by foot. 

Travelling Times 

In general, the travel season for New Zealand lasts from October to 

April, depending on what your plans are. As the islands spread over 

1,600km from North to South (from approx. 34 to 47°S), you should 

expect even during summer to pass through some freezing areas. There 

are direct flights to Auckland from Beijing, Shanghai and Hong Kong. 

Both northern and southern islands are well connected by a number of 

domestic flights plus two ferry-lines crossing the Cook Strait. 

Discover the Ice Age: Both Glaciers can be discovered by 

helicopter and guided-tours. 

Sheep all over the country - far more than inhabitants 


The so called Pancake Rocks in Punakaiki are columns of limestone 

resembling - of course - stacks of pancakes. 

Simone Tietz has been living in Shanghai for almost 4 years together 

with her family. She has been travelling a lot, but still not 

enough. All photos courtesy of the author. 


CoMMUniTY CITY TOUR 

Rocking 

Shanghai 

Parked up outside the Post Office Museum 


Taking a Ride on a 1930s 

WWII BMW Motorbike 

and Sidecar Replica Lets you 

Discover Shanghai from a New 

Perspective 

There are a few places everyone needs to 

go when they come to Shanghai for the first 

time: Shanghai World Financial Center, Yu 

Yuan Garden, The Bund etc. Any guide book 

off the shelf will tell you this. However, if 

you’ve been before, these sites can get very 

old, very fast. Good thing there’s another 

way to see parts of the city even Shanghai 

veterans will be surprised by. Grab a helmet, 

we’re taking a ride. 

Rock-Star Status 

The tour we took started at the Hengshan Rd. 

metro station, and the first thing everyone 

in a 50m radius will notice is these bikes. 

Blacked out front to back, these machines 

draw stares unattainable even by the tallest 

and blondest laowai. One running joke 

among the tour guides is that whoever steps 

into one of these sidecars is a rock star for 

the day. The tour guide, Hugo, is more than 

used to it. He has been living in Shanghai for 

six years and he knows his stuff, teaching 

at a French MBA programme in addition to 

his daytime job. After some cruising around 

Beijing Rd. and past the Jing’an Temple, the 

first stop was made at Changshu Lu. 

Places on the Side 

The side cars allowed us to pull right into 

a driveway off Changshu Lu. There’s no 

need to worry about parking or extraneous 

walking like you would with a bus or 

multiple cars. As soon as the motorbikes 

were parked, Hugo’s passion for architecture 

revealed itself. Surrounded by Art Deco style 

buildings, we were beamed into the midst 

of Laszlo Hudec’s career as an architect. A 

Hungarian fleeing from his Russian captors, 

Hudec escaped and made it to Shanghai in 

1918 where he put his degree as an architect 

to use immediately. He would eventually 

become a legend designing such landmarks 

as the Park Hotel, Chapei Power Station 

and Union Brewery. From this one spot, 

Hugo showed us an early housing complex 

he designed, the first home ever built in 

Shanghai with a lift inside (also designed 

by the Hungarian), and a barbaric stylised 

imitation next door created by the Chinese. 

From this one street you can see the history 

of Shanghai as it evolved. Hidden locations 

like this set a side car tour apart from 

walking around by yourself guidebook in 

hand. After looking at some more Hudec at 

the Park Hotel on Peoples Square we were 

whisked off to another hidden gem. 

Situated at the corner of Feng Yang Rd and 

Shi Men Rd, there is a small residential area 

completely insulated from the hustle and 

bustle of the main streets outside. Hugo 

also knows about the best view in the city, 

but asks his group members to swear to 

secrecy before taking them there. We can 

only confirm that there is hardly a better 

one, not even from the observation deck at 

the Oriental Pearl Tower. The latter is nicely 

visible though, crowned with a mirror image 

on Suzhou Creek – but no more hints now! 

Things Are Lookin’ Up 

There is a lot you don’t see in a car; but you 

only start to realise how much when you 

rip that roof off and ride with these guys. 

Everything feels a little bit more vivid when 

you fly around Shanghai just a few inches off 

the ground. The people seem a little closer, 

the mopeds a little faster, and the buildings 

much, much taller. There is no pedestrian 

worrying about running into someone or 

being run over by a car. Blowing past the 

buildings in Shanghai traffic, head tilted 

back is a one of a kind experience. 

A bunch of the guys getting ready to ‘roll-out’

Time Flies 

Hugo eventually got us to the Bund, where 

the tour was concluded and it was time 

to leave our imaginary adoring groupies 

behind. The 2.5 hours tour felt like we had 

only just scratched the surface, yearning 

for an encore. An unusually sunny and 

clear Shanghai day certainly enhanced 

the experience, but with the proper gear 

– dig out that old rockerbilly jacket and 

mirrorshades of yours – weather and air 

conditions should not keep you from taking 

a ride on the slightly wilder side. DF 

ShanghaiSideways runs a range of premade 

tours by day and night, and can arrange 

customised tours for up to 60 people 

with enough advance notice. For further 

information, please contact Mr.Thomas 

Chabrieres at '150 2111-2451 | * 

info@shanghaisideways.com or visit www. 

shanghaisideways.com 

Worth checking, especially for architecture 

lovers, is also our guide Hugo’s own blog 

www.shanghailander.net 

Checking out the Temple on the way to Changshu Lu 

The view to which I swore an oath of secrecy… …but here’s a hint. 



Solution 5/2009: Hakka earthen building (Tulou) near Yongding, fujian province 

fujian Tulou – a Unesco World Heritage - is a property of 46 buildings constructed between the 15 th and 20 th centuries over 

120km in south-west fujian, chiefly in Yongding, nanjing and Hua’an. The riddle was solved by Ms. Mona Krems, who contributed 

the photo for this issue’s competition. 

CoMMUniTY 


THIS & THAT 

How well do you know 

China? 

In which province was this 

picture taken? 

Check out our next issue for the answer and send us a photo from 

your own pool of China travel pictures, indicating the name and 

place of the motive. The best entry will be published with credits of 

the photographer in our next issue. Email your entry to porpaczy. 

bernhard@sh.china.ahk.de 

http://www.flickr.com/puyecomic 

THE GREAT PEOPLE by: PUYE 

first grade landscape 

1 2 

3 4 

Chinese Course 

Networking Party 

Tom: nínhǎo, wǒ shì Tom. zhè shì wǒde míngpiàn. 

汤姆:您好, 我是Tom。这是我的名片。 

Tom: Hi, I am Tom, this is my name card. 

Jiéruì: nínhǎo nínhǎo, wǒ shì Jerry, zhè shì wǒ de míngpiàn. 

杰瑞:您好您好, 我是 Jerry, 这是我的名片。 

Jerry: Hi , I am Jerry, this is my name card. 

Tāngmǔ: yuánlái nín jiù shì xīn lái de shìchǎngbù jīnglǐ. xìnghuì 

xìnghuì. 

汤姆:原来您就是新来的市场部经理。幸会幸会。 

Tom: Oh, you are the new marketing manager, nice to meet you. 

Jiéruì: shìde, wǒ bāyuè gāng cóng Měiguó diào lái, qǐng duōduō 

zhǐjiào. 

杰瑞:是的, 我八月刚从美国调来, 请多多指教。 

Jerry: Yes, I just transferred here from America in August. Please 

give me your advice (support). 

Tāngmǔ: nǐmen gōngsī zài Zhōngguó de fāzhǎn hěn kuài ba? 

汤姆:你们公司在中国的发展很快吧 ? 

Tom: The development of your company in China is very quick, 

isnt it ? 

Jiéruì: shì bùcuò, Zhōngguó de shìchǎng fēicháng dà, xiāo fèi 

nénglì yě yuèláiyuè qiáng. 

杰瑞:是不错,中国的市场非常大,消费能力也越来越强。 

Jerry: Yes, not bad, the Chinese market is very big, and consu- 

mer strength is growing. 

Sudoku 

Medium 

8 6 

5 7 2 

1 7 8 2 3 

5 8 2 9 

SudokuShack.com 

NEW CONCEPTMandarin 

www.newconceptmandarin.com 

for enquiries call 5228 2950 or email: 

study@newconceptmandarin.com 

1 

6 3 5 7 

2 9 8 7 6 

4 7 8 

3 1

German Speaking Christian Community 

Beijing 

Shanghai 

Date Time place Service 


6 th December 4.00 pm German Embassy Oecumenical musical 

2 nd Advent service 

12 th December 5.00 pm German Embassy Catholic 3 rd Advent service 

20 th December 10.00 am German Embassy Protestant 4 th Advent service 

24 th December 4.00 pm German School Oecumenical Christmas service 

25 th December 6.00 pm German Embassy Catholic Christmas Day service 

10 th January 10.00 am German Embassy Protestant 

16 th January 5.00 pm German Embassy Catholic 

24 th January 10.00 am German Embassy Protestant 

30 th January 5.00 pm German Embassy Catholic 

6 th December 3.30 pm St. Peters Church Catholic 

13 th December 10.30am Green Valley Villas Protestant 

20 th December 3.30 pm St. Peters Church Catholic 

24 th December 4.00 pm St. Peters Church Oecumenical Christmas service 

25 th December 6.30 pm Lakeside Villas Protestant Christmas Day service 

10 th January 10.00 am Longemont Hotel (TBC) New Years Reception of the DCGS 

17 th January 3.30 pm St. Peters Church Catholic 

24 th January 10.30 am Pudong (TBA) Protestant 

Contact: Beijing: 

Shanghai: 

Dr. Karl-Heinz Schell – Protestant Pastor | ' 136 9363-1857 

* dt_gemeinde_peking@hotmail.com | www.egpeking.de 

Catholic Services | * kgds.peking@gmail.com 

CHURCH CALENDAR 

Peter Kruse – Protestant Pastor | ' 139 1765-4475 

Michael Bauer – Catholic Priest | ' 137 7431-0216 

* dcgs-gemeindinfo@web.de | www.dcgs.net 


CoMMUniTY 


CHAMBER EVENTS CALENDAR 

Chamber Calendar Regular Events 

Date Event/Topic 

North China 

2 nd December Young Professionals Roundtable 

10 th December German Chamber Dinner 

TBA December Inter-Chamber Christmas Mixer 

21 st January Construction Roundtable 

26 th January Communication Forum 

28 th January TBC German Chamber Dinner 

South China 

2 nd December Inter-Chamber White Christmas (Guangzhou) 

3 rd December Seminar: CSR (Shenzhen) 

6 th December German Evening / Deutscher Abend (Shenzhen) 

TBA December HR Roundtable (Guangzhou) 

TBA January Tax update (Guangzhou) 

East China 

1 st December Workshop Construction 

2 nd December Half-Day Seminar on Restructuring 

2 nd December Workshop Energy Saving 

7 th December Automotive Workshop 

8 th December Workshop Marketing & Sales 

8 th December Malaysia-Day 

9 th December Inter-Chamber Christmas Mixer 

10 th December Chamber Meeting 

21 st January JV Roundtable 

28 th January Chamber Meeting 

EWM焊接技术扎根中国 

以德国最先进的技术服务于中国和亚洲 

EWM WELDING TECHNOLOGY MADE IN CHINA 

GERMAN STATE-OF-THE-ART TECHNOLOGY FOR CHINA AND ASIA 

手弧焊钨极氩弧焊熔化极气体保护焊等离子焊 

MMA welding TIG welding MIG/MAG welding PLASMA welding 

伊达高科焊接 (昆山)有限公司伊达高科焊接德国总部 

EWM Kunshan, China 

EWM Mündersbach, Germany 

EWM HIGHTEC WELDING (Kunshan) Ltd. 

10 Yuanshan Road, 

Kunshan New & High-Tech Industry Development Zone, 

Kunshan, Jiangsu, 215300 P.R.China 

伊达高科焊接(昆山)有限公司 

江苏省昆山市昆山高新区圆山路10号 

邮编: 215300 

Phone: +86(0) 512 57867188 

Fax: +86(0)512 57867182 

www.ewm.cn · info@ewm.cn 

SIMPLY MORE 

North China 

Kammerstammtisch – every 

third Monday of the month 

at Paulaner Brauhaus, 

7.00pm 

Praktikantenstammtisch 

– every second Tuesday 

of the month at changing 

locations, 7.00pm 

Event Highlights 

North China 

East China 

Deutscher Stammtisch – 

every second Tuesday 

of the month at Paulaner 

Bräuhaus Fenyang Road, 

7.00pm 

Praktikantenstamm-tisch – 

every third Wednesday of 

the month at Mural Bar, 

7.30pm 

German Chamber Year-End Dinner 

The last dinner of the year in Beijing 

will be celebrated with a distinctly 

Chinese theme. The author of 

“China in Those Days”, the largest 

historic picture collection with images 

from around 1900 in China, will 

speak about the precious postcard 

collection and take us back in time 

while we feast on a sumptuous Chinese menu in a traditional setting. 

South China 

Christmas Events in Guangzhou and Shenzhen 

Both major cities in Guangdong will experience very special Christmas 

events. In Guangzhou, six European chambers join hands and 

will host an Inter-Chamber Christmas event on 2 nd December at the 

Pullman Hotel. The German Chamber takes the lead in organising the 

evening. Presale tickets are available at the GCC office in Guangzhou. 

No matter if casual or cocktail attire, the dress code will be WHITE. 

Together with sponsoring member company OBC Service GmbH, the 

GCC l South China will host the German Evening in Shenzhen on 6 th 

December at Paulaner Shekou. Members and friends of the German 

Chamber with their families are welcome to celebrate together. 

East China 

South China 

German Happy Hour 

Guangzhou – every last 

Tuesday of the month 

No Happy Hour in December 

German Stammtisch Shenzhen 

– every third Thursday 

of the month at Galleon Bar, 

InterContinental Shenzhen 

Young Professionals 

Stammtisch – every second 

Thursday of the month at 

Sleeping Wood New location! 

Restoring the German Banking Sector 

The first Chamber Meeting of the New Year 

will take place on 28 th January, featuring a 

speaker, who can look back at an eventful 

year. Dr. Hannes Rehm, Chairman of SoFFin, 

the EUR 500bn German Special Fund for 

Financial Market Stabilisation, will share his 

views on saving the German banking sector 

and restoring its values. The former NordLB 

boss warns about premature relaxation and 

sees further challenges ahead in 2010.


88 December - January 2009/2010

Season's Greetings - AHKs

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