Since 2005, there are over 86,000 foreigners coming to China to learn Mandarin Chinese every year. As China's economy rises in such rapid pace, it means the world has a new second language - Mandarin Chinese, the mother tongue and official language of China, a country with over 5000 years of ancient history. This is why more and more foreigners are coming to China to learn Mandarin.

The Chinese culture can not be described in a paragraph or two. With 5000 years of ancient history, there are traditional differences varying greatly between towns, cities, and provinces. For almost every town, city and province in China, there is a dialect specifically for that area, but every Chinese still knows and understands their official language as Mandarin (Putonghua). As for culture and food, everywhere in China is different as well. For example, the south of China indulges in seafood, and in the north, they indulge in meat.

There are many ways to master Mandarin in China. The most popular method is learning at a university. With proper teaching methods and the high quality teaching, you will be able to learn and understand everyday Mandarin within a semester.

When in China, one may see different people from around the world who are learning Mandarin in China all mixing in together, thereby offering a very colorful and multicultural environment. The advantage of this is that some students don't speak English well, and so everyone is forced to communicate using Mandarin Chinese. With the university classes having an average class ratio of 1:23 teacher to student ratio, students not only learn Mandarin, but also have to the opportunity to learn about their classmates' cultures and countries too.

In order to learn a language well, one must take as take into consideration and attention in 5 language areas - speaking, listening, reading comprehension, writing, and grammar. Since the teacher to student ratio in university classes is 1:23, some students find it is more effective to take Mandarin Chinese classes at a smaller private Chinese language academy, where teacher to student ratio is generally about 1:5, or find language exchange partners.

To learn Mandarin quickly, effectively and professionally, students can consider taking classes at a university in China or they can consider studying Mandarin Chinese at a private language academy. PRC Study offers programs and immersion packages to students who wish to
study Mandarin
in a university in China or private Chinese language academy. To find out information on the best way to study Mandarin in China, please visit PRC Study

Foreign chocolate brands such as Dove, Cadbury and Hershey's have now captured about 70% of the Chinese chocolate market. As Barry Callebaut, the world's largest chocolate manufacturer with 25% of the global market, recently opened its first chocolate factory in China in Suzhou City, the top 20 chocolate companies in the world have now all entered the Chinese market. But in the face of global competition, China's local chocolate companies have been further suppressed down the value chain.

Second largest chocolate market

As the CHF 4 billion-revenue-per-year Barry Callebaut set up its first production line in Suzhou, a complete multinational chocolate industry chain is also emerging. Industry insiders suggested that this would be a blow to local Chinese chocolate companies in this globalized competition. It further indicated that keeping up with international competition is particularly important, or the Chinese industry chain will become even more vulnerable.

In recent years, the global chocolate market has notably slowed down, with only 2-3% growth per annum. This is mainly because per capita chocolate consumption in developed countries is already at a high level, averaging 11 kg. On the other hand, China's per capita chocolate consumption is only 0.1 kg, and its domestic chocolate market has been growing at a staggering 10-15% per year, with an estimated market potential of US$2.7 billion. Thus China has become the world's second biggest chocolate market only behind the US. The world's top 20 chocolate companies have all entered China, and there are more than 70 imported or JV chocolate brands in today's Chinese market.

Barry Callebaut has made it clear that they are coming to share and participate in China's economic growth. It plans to build the Suzhou factory into the largest among its 38 factories globally, and achieve a 6-fold sales increase in the next five years via the Suzhou factory's high capacity. "We hope we can fully utilise this factory's capacity to rapidly increase output from 25,000 tons to 75,000 tons, making it the world's largest chocolate factory," said Barry Callebaut CEO Patrick De Maeseneire.

Multinational ambitions

It is understood that Barry Callebaut's new plant in Suzhou will become the company's Asia-Pacific headquarter, as well as a sales network centre for serving China and multinational food manufacturers and specialised customers. Major brands, such as Cadbury, Hershey's and Nestle, all currently have large quantity of outsourcing manufacturing contracts with Barry Callebaut, whose OEM output of cocoa liquor and chocolate products amounts to 15-20% of each of the three major brands' annual output. So the Swiss Barry Callebaut is indeed the Big Brother of the global chocolate industry.

In fact, even before the arrival of Barry Callebaut, China's local chocolate companies had already been losing market shares to multinational competitors. The US Hershey's has determined to plough the Chinese market, planning to achieve 23% share of the local market by 2010 and the runner-up position in China. Meanwhile, Korean and Japanese chocolate producers are also accelerating their entry into the Chinese market.

Local companies not in the local market

Although the rapidly growing Chinese chocolate market is good news for its local chocolate companies, Chinese consumers today are frequently referring to foreign brands such as Dove, Cadbury, Hershey's and Ferrero but seldom mentioning local brands.

As a foreign product, China only has a chocolate manufacturing history of less than 50 years, so there is inevitable gap behind foreign brands in terms of production techniques and technologies. Due to inappropriate processing equipment and incomplete production facilities, product quality assurance is difficult for many local chocolate companies. Furthermore, most Chinese chocolate companies are weak in product R&D, resulting in slow product changes and updates. At present, most local chocolate companies are stuck in an embarrassing situation of low product quality.

The above industry issues have costed local companies' opportunities to participate in the competition for the Chinese chocolate market. Multinational chocolate brands have come to the Chinese market one by one since the 1990s, and now they are in a dominant market position. With their considerable financial power, multinationals can play their technological and cultural cards, as well as promoting their premium quality and unique tastes, to rapidly capture the Chinese market.

As Barry Callebaut finally entered the Chinese market, its Suzhou factory will make chocolate production even cheaper for multinational brands. For local Chinese companies that are mostly in the low-end market, they may no longer hold this market segment firm.

Keep up with the globalization

Statistics showed that there are about 63 large-scale local chocolate companies in China, with annual production of 150,000 tons. Statistics from industry associations also revealed that China currently has about 250 chocolate companies in total.

Industry insiders pointed out that the Chinese food and beverage industry is a highly and internationally competitive market. The vast potential of China's chocolate market is not only for foreign brands, but is also laid in front of local chocolate producers. The local chocolate industry is now in a structural change and survival-of-the-fittest stage, and no doubt the entry of foreign brands will present challenges to the local industry. But if local chocolate companies can participate in this international competition, it could not only drive the chocolate demand from Chinese consumers, but also promote development of China's chocolate market.

Local Chinese chocolate companies need to constantly improve their product quality, select finer raw ingredients, upgrade production facilities, adopt international technologies, enhance product innovation and brand management. Only then can they compete with multinational companies on a level-playing field, and make a breakthrough in this foreign-dominated Chinese chocolate market.

For more information on Chinese businesses, please visit www.chinabizintel.com

The Toyota Prius, a car built on hybrid gas-electric technology, will soon receive a major production boost. Toyota and an undisclosed Chinese based manufacturing company have sealed a deal where the two companies will be working together to produce the Prius for worldwide export. This bodes well for the American consumer who has to endure long waits for an all new Prius. More importantly, the move signals a sea change in the way Japanese cars are built and marketed. Ultimately, you may be the biggest winner; please read on for all the scintillating details!

If you wait nine months for a car, it means you must really want that model. This is exactly what future owners of the Prius have been doing as well as owners of other hybrid cars including some Honda models. No manufacturer has been able to keep up with the surging demand and, despite lower fuel prices, demand continues to increase.

For Toyota, production levels on virtually every car they produce have been very high. Thus, even producing more Prius’ has been impossible as manufacturing capacity has been stretched thin. Until now that is. With Toyota’s new relationship with China, it is expected that Prius production will ramp up. More Prius’ built in China will mean more hybrid models from Toyota as production shifts westward to the Chinese mainland from Japan.

As you might guess, labor costs in China are extremely low too. There is no telling if a car produced in China for Toyota will be sold for less in the US or simply translate into bigger profits for Toyota. Likely it will be a combination of the two, a true win-win situation for Toyota as well as for the American consumer!

Hopefully, the Chinese built Prius will match typical Toyota quality levels. It probably will as whatever vehicles Toyota builds around the globe must match Toyota quality standards.

Are you waiting for a Prius? Your wait won’t get shortened any time soon, but for future owners they expect to see a significant drop in wait times as new, Chinese-built Prius’ show up on American shores.

Copyright 2005 -- Matthew Keegan is The Article Writer who writes on a variety of topics including: advocacy, automobiles, aviation, business, Christian themes, family, news, product reviews, travel, writing, and more. Samples from his portfolio are available right online.

If you're getting ready to travel to China for business, there are a few things to remember that might make your business talks go a little smoother. Knowing a few of the customary practices can go a long way in making a good first impression!

1. Understand that before you talk serious business, you must first introduce yourselves to each other. But I don't mean just a quick introduction. I'm talking about being invited or inviting them to lunch or dinner first. During the meal, casual conversation is the priority. Some minor business talk can be included, but keep it light and with no serious promises being made. Wait until the second meeting to talk serious business. I promise you, you will get a lot more accomplished that way.

2. They don't always give you time to prepare for a meeting. Trust me on this one. While you are visiting, you may be tempted to let it all hang out and blow off some steam thinking that you will be given plenty of notice before having to appear professional in front of potential business clients or partners. Don't bet on it! If you really need to take a break from it all, then the best thing you can do for yourself is to make sure to prepare for the unexpected meeting. Have everything you could possibly need in order to run out the door to an important meeting with only a ten minute warning. I'm really not kidding. You may think that you are on a set schedule, but just when you let your guard down, you will get a phone call from one of your Chinese clients stating that they have another partner who wants to talk to you, they are both currently standing in the lobby of your hotel, and that you are invited to eat with them right now. You had better not say no! It is a big insult to say no when you are invited to eat a meal from a Chinese citizen wanting to welcome you to talk business.

3. Plan to eat a lot of food. If they invite you to eat, it is customary to order a spread of food that is way too large for the group to finish eating. So if you are the one doing the inviting, you had better plan to order enough food to feed double the amount of people, and make sure it is a large and colorful variety of dishes! Keep in mind, it is always served family style! If you don't order much food, or you expect everyone to eat one individual meal for themselves, then you will insult them.

4. If you are invited to dinner or lunch, be prepared to drink clear hard liquor (at least one big shot), or beer (at least one bottle). If you are the one doing the inviting, then you had better be prepared to buy lots of liquor and beer, and at least ask what each person prefers! But either way, no matter what you are drinking, you will probably be drinking it out of a juice size glass. Oh, and one important thing to remember, when they say "Cheers", they don't want you to just take a sip. They expect you to down the whole glass! So make sure you fill your stomach with as much food as possible so you don't get drunk to early! Besides, if you eat more food, they will be happier with you, and I don't mean lots of food. I'm talking about tons of food. Eat until you are going to explode, if you know what I mean!

5. When it's time for handing out your business card, if you want to impress your Chinese business partners, then plan on using two hands. Place one hand on each side of the card. Make sure you very slightly bow your head, but not too much, just a hint of a bow.

6. Here's a really big one! If you're serious about impressing anyone in China, just learn to speak some Chinese. The more you can speak, the more impressed they will be. It is a serious compliment to take the time to learn their language. But if you are only going there for one business meeting, it would still make a big difference to just learn to say a few common sentences. If you learn to pronounce them well, you will be showered with compliments, and your first impression will go a long way towards softening up your conversations. You will also be viewed completely different from your colleagues who didn't bother to learn any Chinese at all!

7. Most people don't have their own vehicles in China. Even if they have a nice income, they probably rely on the amazing public transportation system. You can make a fantastic impression by arranging a car to pick up all of the prospective clients and drive them to the place of meeting, which will most likely be a restaurant.

8. Here's an interesting one. When you and your colleagues are getting ready to sit down at a table along with your Chinese business partners, you will notice a slight difference in the customary practices. It is not vitally important who sits down first, but you will notice a conflict of interest when a male Westerner is waiting for a Chinese woman to sit down before he does. The problem is that the woman will also be waiting for the man to sit down first! I have experienced this on many occasions and it still amuses me when neither one of us can decide when to sit down because we are both waiting on each other! Here's how it usually goes. The two Owners or Head Managers of both parties (male or female) sit down before everyone else, at the two most important positions, and at the same time. Then everyone else sits down in no particular order except with most of the women casually waiting for the men to sit down first.

9. Remember the the basic manners you were taught when you were growing up and you will make friends quickly. Saying "Please" and "Thank you" at the appropriate times is well respected within Chinese Culture. Genuine smiles are viewed as a sign of intelligence and a good honest heart. This is very important.

10. Now for one final, and extremely important concept to understand about making business contacts with Chinese citizens. In order to become good business partners, you must first become good friends. If you feel comfortable with your business partners, then make sure to call them your friend. Before anything else truly important can happen, the two parties must agree to be friends.

Of course all of these tips are not set in stone, but if you put them to use during your next trip to China, whether it be for business or for pleasure, you will make a great first impression.

Thomas Barto, owner of GlobalQue, an import/export business that operates primarily offline. Helping manufacturers and distributors find each other from across the world. The website can be found online at http://www.globalque.com/