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BUSINESS OPPORTUNITIES IN CHINA
Hi all this is not a sales
pitch just to let you know what is happening in china not all a bed of roses
like the media says it is.
I went on a trip with my
friend to see some business opportunities in Enping a small city west of
Guangzhou around 4 hours by bus. This is a typical small city in china full
of culture and pace of life which is more suited to china and not like the
hustle and bustle of the big cities. This is a place where is goes to sleep
around 10pm and up around 5am.but in saying that all the usual night life is
there like the guy sitting in the foyer wait to pounce on you to ask would
you like a bed warmer or two for the night, being such a nice guy I of
course said no (I did honest) and it was not a hot water bottle.
We arrived in mid afternoon
and were picked up by my friend’s friend and duly went on a trek up the
hills where this guy owned lots of forest and he wanted to show me all his
trees that he owned and to see around the area. We headed up the hills and
passed a place where what I made out sold goose for dinner, however we did
not eat just stopped and moved on after around 10 minutes. We eventually
arrive at this huge lake where we met one of his employees who were the look
out for him and stayed at the lake side, his job was to make sure no one was
felling timber that belonged to them.
We all got on this old boat
and set off around this lake and he explained about the trees and what they
were grown for mostly for paper production and some for furniture. When we
were on the boat I asked about the notice which mentioned the number 26 on
it at the road down to the boat as I do not read Chinese, he replied oh
that’s how many people that have drowned while out swimming on the lake and
they have never been recovered then he proceed to tell me that the cat fish
in the lake can be up to 9ft – 12ft long and have been found when caught
with human remains in there gut. Needless to say I would not be going
swimming there. After this we got back in the 4x4 and headed down the hills
back to the goose place where this huge steel bowel arrived with chopped up
goose in it all cooked and some small bowels of rice . I might say this was
local cooking with little or no hygiene and what was running through my mind
if I would be able to avoid the bad stomach in around 4 hours. Just as this
was running through my mind the owner’s phone rang and the next thing I knew
there was another goose but living this time appeared about 6 feet away from
where there openly slaughtered it and cleaned it. Well I really don’t mind
this as I do understand this is how it is done in china as they like things
to be as fresh as possible and yes you can taste the difference but hey not
when you are busy eating it brother. After our meal we headed off to book
into a hot spring complex which my friend was wanting to look around as it
was for sale by the bank for one dollar and they were offering you
incentives for the first three years to take it off their hands. With a
little bit of investment and negocation with the local government about the
surrounding road to the springs it would be a nice place, the whole complex
was looking tired. But it had a huge amount of villas and challis. We booked
in and stayed the night and took full advantage of the hot springs which was
so nice to be able to be sitting out at 11.30pm in the hot water pools.
In the morning we got up and
had breakfast and was picked up buy our friend and taken in to a old culture
village which dated back to the 10th century which I must admit was more
like something the jungle was reclaiming but did give you a insight how life
was in the area at the time and the village still has some people living
there and tending the land around it. We stopped and had another local
cooked lunch which we had to pick as it was still running around but the
chicken was nice we had to eat also the fresh trout which we picked from the
local stream. After lunch we headed into Enping city where we were taken to
a huge hotel complex which was also up for sale again for a dollar and was
being offered with a package by the bank to take it off their hands. I
wondered at this point why were the banks offering this entire place for
sale at such a low price and also offering three year packages along with
them in which the bank was paying you to run them. I asked and was told that
by law in china banks cannot own or run other business they acquire if
repayments are not kept up on them so they have to dispose of them within 6
months or the government levy big fines on the banks (maybe we need this
same system in the uk). After this we went to see a massage parlour also
which was up for sale for the same one dollar. So there are plenty
opportunities for the right people who can offer a good management and
service to the area. I feel most times you find that the man management is
poor in the small cities but not all the time. I hope you like the photos I
took and if you would like to ask any question please do or if you require
to import or export goods to and from china just drop me a email please all
enjoy the photos
www.wetalkchina.com
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