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AUSTRALIAN INSURANCE COMPANY TAKES LEAD IN ROAD SAFETY IN CHINA.

By Li Fangfang

Chinese motorist are notorious for their frightening driving habits. Heavy fatalities and financial loses on  Chinese roads are taking their toll on the nation's drivers. The country urgently needs an effective safety campaign.
Researchers at Tsinghua University in Beijing say  the death toll from traffic accidents in China hit 100,000 in 2004.
The deaths are just the tip of the iceberg, however. Direct financial loses arising from traffic accidents  came to approximately 2.77 billion Yuan (US$280 million) in 2004.
Vehicles cause only 8 per cent of road fatalities in China. Twenty eight per cent are related to poor  road conditions, from bad construction to bad management. Up to 95 per cent of accidents are caused by human error, says Zhang Jinhuan, Dean of Tsinghua Auto Crash Laboratory.
CAA, China Automobile Association , a motorist service that provides emergency aid on roads in Beijing and neighbouring areas, has initiated a five  month community road safety campaign.
CAA was established by a Chinese national in 1995 and became a joint venture with IAG in 1999, one of Australia's largest property insurance  companies and a specialist in vehicle insurance. IAG became CAA's sole owner in 2003.

Source:  China Daily

THE CHINESE DREAM

Courtesy: China Today

RENT AND RIDE, BUT NOT FOR FOREIGNERS

 Beijing is ground zero for those who love driving. It's the epicentre of China's emerging motorist culture, and it has the auto associations to prove it.
It is also home to numerous car rental agencies. Figures from the municipal transportation authorities show that there are around 230 rental  companies in Beijing and more than 21,000 rental cars, running the gamut from popular Polo's to luxury BMW's.
There are approximately 60,000 rental cars on the  Chinese mainland. Business and middle-class consumers are increasingly using rental services.
The market is Beijing is fragmented. Small  companies and individuals are cutting prices and squeezing the profit margins of larger companies.
Zhu Hui, vice general manager of Avis' Anji Car  Rental and Leasing Co., Beijing, Avis' Chinese joint venture, says it is an unhealthy practice that international companies, nonetheless, have to face when they come to China.
Foreigner license holders are not permitted to self drive in China and must rent chauffeured cars.

Source China Daily. (Writer Fang Fang)

STEALTH SALES

A mid range shoe manufacturer discovers the best way to compete with the multinations is to avoid them.
Qingdao Doublestar Co.,  China's largest shoemaker by production scale, manufactures sports shoes for international brands such as Reebok and Nike. Designer sneakers are becoming hot itmes for an increasing  number of urban Chinese youth.
The company's own shoe brand, Doublestar, is struggling to survive, however.
A pair of Nikes can sell for over 1,000 Yuan (US$124.00), while a  pair of Doublestars is only one-forth that price.
"Doublestar and Nike use the same materials and are produced on the same production lines by the same group of workers. The two  are roughly the same quality" says Wang Hai, president of Qingdao Doublestar Co.
Under Wang's command, the Chinese manufacturer has mapped out a brand building strategy.
With  an annual production volume of nearly 100 million pairs of shoes, Double star has more than 140 production lines.
There are more than 3,000 Doublestar franchices across the  country. The stores are helping the project an image of quality and practicality.

Source: China Daily
Writer:Xiao Lu

 EXPATS TRY TO TACKLE CULTURAL DIFFERENCES

"Chickens have all the bones in them, and they keep the head and feet"
"People stare at us"
"Personal space is very different"
About a hundred new and not so new foreigners now living in Shanghai shared their experiences at a restaurant - closed for the event - in People's Square.
"At my last job at Microsoft," said Scott Rosenberg of Cross Cultural Interchange, "they brought an expat and his family to China."  Without  support to build a life here, he said, "within two months they were gone." A lack of cultural understanding "affects the length of assignments," he said.
Kathleen Lau, author of Riding the Red Dragon, said, "Business relations are often more personal and require a deeper connection if they are to succeed.
We are talking about a relatively rigid (social) system. As a foreigner in China, basically your status is a guest."
In this country you don't do business with  associates", she said. There is no avoiding friendship if business is to be done."
 

Source:  China Daily
Writer: Alfred Romann

RAT POISON MADE STUDENTS VOMIT

A dealy rat poison known as dushuqiang has been blamed for the food poisioning that affected 53  students in the city oif Sanhe, in North China's Hebei Province on Thusday 16 September, according to the local health agency.
Twenty-three students are still in hospital in a stable condition. The rest have been allowed to go home.
"We're almost certain that this is a criminal case  and the poison was put in the food deliberately," a director of the local municpality said.
"Public security officials are still trying to discover who could be responsible."

 Source: China Daily.
Writer Zhu Zhe
 

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