Catalonia deepens its roots in China

From http://www.viaempresa.cat/ca/notices/2013/12/catalunya-arrela-a-la-xina-3830.php (in Catalan)

The on-line Catalan business magazine, Via Empresa, has recently published an article by Joan Ramon Armadàs about the increasing commercial relationship between China and Catalonia.

According to the official statistics, until August 2013 Catalan exports had amounted 4,5 billion €, a fourth of the Spanish exports, growing by 7.3%. Catalan exports to China are still a small percentage, amounting 90 million €, but with a growth between January 2012 and August 2013 that has reached 19%.

Acció is the agency set up by the Catalan Government to improve the competitiveness of Catalan enterprises throughout the world. Gao Wei is the head of the Acció office in China and he is aware that the growth of the Chinese economy is the main reason for the companies to land in China. According to him, "the economic situation in China offers business opportunities to the Catalan companies, specially in projects related with the transfer of technology".

About whether it is better to be physically in China or if it is enough to have some good local contacts and suppliers, a question that probably nowadays many companies have had, Gao Wei offers his wisdom: "it is important to have contacts and suppliers, but it is highly recommendable to travel to China to visit the local companies before starting the business". He also acknowledges that China is a difficult market for the Catalan companies, due to factors such as the different commercial practices, the cultural differences and the administrative barriers applied by the Chinese government in order to protect the local products.

Another big question is in which part of China it is better to land. According to Ana Beatriz Hernández, a teacher at the Department of Business Management at the Universitat Rovira i Virgili and author of the report "Análisis de la inversión empresarial catalana en China (Analysis of the Catalan business investments in China)", companies should not only consider to invest in the big cities. In them, competition is fierce and it is where the Chinese government is working harder to compensate it. In a recent interview in the Acció website Anella.cat, Ana Beatriz Hernández states that the main interest of the Chinese government now is to develop its inland regions through different kinds of incentives that some Catalan companies have already started to use. However, it is also frequent that the geographical location of the investment is related to the area of the chosen local partner.

Despite these advantages of the inland areas, the names of the main Chinese cities are still an important factor for the attraction of the foreign companies willing to establish in China. According to Gao Wei, Beijing is where the decisions about the big projects are made and it is where there is a higher density of universities and research centres, which means it is where the highest concentration of talent and prepared people. On the other hand, Shanghai has a great commercial activity because it is the place where the reform tests are being made, like the Pudong New Area (浦东新区) or the Shanghai Waigaoqiao Free Trade Zone (上海外高桥保税区). Finally, he sees Hong Kong as the window of China that's open to the rest the world, both for its free trade and for the its important attraction of foreign investments.

From the opposite point of view, Catalonia also offers things to which the Chinese are attracted to, specially in terms of tourism, culture and sports. Gao Wei also states that the Catalan people are acknowledged by their entrepreneur and commercial spirit, as proven by the appointment of Barcelona as the capital of the Mobile World Congress, that has brought Chinese companies such as Huawei or Lenovo to open offices in Barcelona.

Sinalunya’s 2013 year in review

As most of media do, we also like to review what the last year has offered and what have been the most relevant materials of 2013, according to our readers and visitors. Here is the list:

#1 – Barcelona’s Chinatown grows and integrates into the Fort Pienc quarter

#2 - Desigual opens two new shops in Malaysia

#3 - Entrepreneur DNA: Catalan newspaper El Punt Avui interviews Dídac Lee

#4 - Catalan cava giant Codorniu expands to Singapore

#5 - Catalan rock band from Barcelona releases record in Chinese

#6 - FC Barcelona will play friendly games in Thailand and Malaysia in summer 2013

#7 - Sinalunya featured in some Catalan media

#8 - Chinese poetry reading in Girona

#9 - “Pure views: Transformations of Chinese Contemporary Art” exhibition in Barcelona

#10 - A visit to the Joan Miró exhibition in Taipei

 

The most read posts of 2013 by month are the following:

* January – Desigual opens two new shops in Malaysia

* February - Barcelona’s Chinatown grows and integrates into the Fort Pienc quarter

* March - Sinalunya featured in some Catalan media

* April - Chinese poetry reading in Girona

* May - Forum on the roadmap for investments between China and Spain organized in Barcelona

* June - Catalan rock band from Barcelona releases record in Chinese

* July - Barcelona chosen as site of the European laboratory of Chinese CCIC

* August - “Pure views: Transformations of Chinese Contemporary Art” exhibition in Barcelona

* September - Taiwanese delegation visits Girona to learn from its touristic promotion

* October - Barcelona appointed Guest of Honour at the 2014 Beijing Design Week

* November - Hong Kong communications company Cronos sets in Barcelona

* December - Guzheng concert in Vilafranca del Penedès by Zhang Ye

Chinese interest on the port of Badalona, north of Barcelona

From http://www.lavanguardia.com/economia/20131220/54397390281/interes-chino-puerto-badalona-tres-xemeneies.html (in Spanish)

It seems evident that China is interested on Barcelona. The cranes of Hutchinson at the mouth of the Llobregat river, south of the city of Barcelona, have turned new pier of its port into some sort of Chinese territory. And now, on the northern end of the city, in the Besòs river delta, already in the Badalona city limits, the Three Chimneys of the old thermal power station may have a similar future.

The Chinese investment group Kalsang Metong has recently signed an agreement with the municipality of Badalona and the Barcelona County Council to explore the possibility of selling two pieces of land by the sea: first, the 20 hectares of the surroundings of the former Besòs thermal power station, that ceased its activity in 2011; and second, the port of Badalona, a public property owned by the municipality and the county council that is in red numbers.

Asked by La Vanguardia, the mayor of Badalona, PP member Xavier García Albiol, showed cautious about this possibility. He explained about the initial contacts, but he stated that he has received no offer yet. The mayor of the neighbouring municipality Sant Adrià del Besòs, Joan Callau, also held meetings with the Chinese representatives and expressed his interest on the operation.

According from sources that know the details of the contacts, the Chinese want to invest on housing, leisure, culture and hotels and turn the old building of the Three Chimneys into a museum of the Chinese culture in Europe. It has been known that Li Wenru, Deputy Director of the Palace Museum in the Forbidden City in Beijing, was one of the members of the Chinese delegation.

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="368"] The Three Chimneys in Sant Adrià del Besòs, Barcelona (image from Barcelona Photoblog by Carlos Lorenzo)[/caption]

Published the issue #10 of the Newsletter of the Catalan Engineers in China

The China Working Group of the College of Industrial Engineers of Catalonia has released the issue 10 of their Newsletter. It can be read and downloaded in the previous link for from here below.

Barcelona based rock band GAS releases Chinese version of FC Barcelona's anthem

GAS, a rock band based in L'Hospitalet de Llobregat (Barcelona province) that earlier this year took by storm the local music scene by releasing their first EP, "Chinese Works" with seven original songs sung in Mandarin Chinese, has again caused sensation by recording a Chinese version of the anthem of the legendary Catalan football team FC Barcelona. Entitled 巴薩的隊歌, the news has appeared in many media, both local and from abroad.



 

Editada la "Guía de Supervivencia en China" per al viatger de negocis

De http://landing.captio.net/descargate-la-guia-de-supervivencia-para-el-viajero-de-negocios-cross-cultural-en-china (en Castellano)

Captio, amb la col·laboració de Baidewei, han editat una eina que pot resultar molt útil per als cada vegada més freqüents viatgers de negocis disposats a conquerir els mercats de Xina. Es tracta de la “Guía de Supervivencia en China para el viajero de negocios“, en la qual en 26 pàgines es resumeixen els costums, el protocol i la cultura d'empresa a la Xina, per tal que qui hi viatgi per primera vegada no comenci des de zero. La guia està disponible en format pdf y per a obtenir-la tan sols cal visitar l'enllaç anterior.

Editada la Guía de Supervivencia en China para el viajero de negocios

De http://landing.captio.net/descargate-la-guia-de-supervivencia-para-el-viajero-de-negocios-cross-cultural-en-china (en Castellano)

Captio, con la colaboración de Baidewei, han editado una herramienta que puede resultar muy útil para los cada vez más frecuentes viajeros de negocios cuyo mercado a conquistar es China. Se trata de la "Guía de Supervivencia en China para el viajero de negocios", en la cual se resumen en 26 páginas las costumbres, el protocolo y la cultura de empresa en China, para que quien viaje por primera vez no empiece desde cero. La guía está disponible en formato pdf y para obtenerla tan sólo hay que visitar el enlace anterior.