Doing business in China often means needing to travel to one part of the country or another to meet with clients. This is especially true I think of the legal profession. Quite often the attorneys based here in our Beijing office are required to travel, sometimes long distances, to take care of legal matters for our clients. Hopping a flight from the Beijing Airport to any and all points in China is fairly common practice. The needs of your clients come first in this business. Sometimes if you plan carefully, and the stars are in the proper alignment, it is possible to set up meetings with two or more clients on the same day in the same distant city. For example, consider the trip attorneys Li Hong, Yolanda Li, and I made to the city of Shenzhen on April 8 of this year for a meeting on the 9
th
.
Shenzhen is a two and one-half hour flight from Beijing. Shenzhen is located on the mainland, just north of Hong Kong in a “Special Economic Zone”
“Special Economic Zones (SEZ) were created after
Deng Xiaoping
’s economic reforms were implemented in China in 1979. Special Economic Zones are areas where market-driven
capitalist
policies are implemented to entice foreign businesses to invest in China. The policies include investment in new infrastructure like office buildings and banks and preferential tax exemptions for foreign firms who want to invest in China.
Shenzhen
became the model for China’s Special Economic Zones (SEZ) when it was transformed from 126-square-miles of villages known for sales of knockoffs to a bustling business metropolis. Located a short bus ride from
Hong Kong
in southern China, Shenzhen is one of China’s richest cities.
Where Are the Special Economic Zones?
Four Special Economic Zones (SEZ) were established in 1979, three in
Guangdong province
and one in
Fujian province
:
- Shantou
- Shenzhen
- Xiamen
- Zhuhai
Fourteen cities plus
Hainan Island
were also added to the list in 1986:
- Beihai
- Dalian
- Fuzhou
- Guangzhou
- Lianyungang
- Nantong
- Ningbo
- Qinhuangdao
- Qingdao
- Shanghai
- Tianjin
- Wenzhou
- Yantai
- Zhanjiang
New Special Economic Zones (SEZ) have been continually added to encompass a number of border cities, provincial capital cities and autonomous regions.” *
Our trip to Shenzhen on April 8 was for the purpose of holding meetings involving two different clients. One was an American trading company located in Shenzhen. The other meeting was with an investigator working for a foreign manufacturing company.
Our first meeting was with the American trading company people.
Representing the Lehman Law Firm were, from right to left, attorney Li Hong, to her right, attorney Yolanda Li, and me, on Yolanda’s right and behind her. We had a very good meeting which lasted just over 3 hours.
Immediately after the first meeting was concluded, we were picked up by the gentleman we were to meet with next. He took us to a restaurant so we could hold our discussions over lunch.
The meeting lasted over 3 hours and we got quite a bit accomplished. On the far left is attorney Yolanda Li, I am to her left, the investigator is to my left, and attorney Li Hong is on the far right.
In the time since these two meeting were held, attorneys from the firm have been called upon to make trips to meet with clients in several different cities. Sometimes it is also necessary for them to travel for the purpose of filing court papers or even for attending court hearings. It’s all in a day’s work at Lehman, Lee & Xu.
Hawkeye in China
Lex Smith