FTChinese holds first annual forum in Beijing

International leaders from across business and academia gathered at the Grand Hyatt Hotel in Beijing today for the first FTChinese Annual Forum to exchange views, share information and debate the economic and financial future of China, Asia and the world. The Forum was chaired by Zhang Lifen, Associate Editor of the Financial Times and Editor-in-Chief of FTChinese.com.

The keynote address was given by Martin Wolf, Associate Editor and Chief Economics Commentator of the Financial Times on the Limits Of Mercantilism: Global Imbalances and The Coming Crisis in China’s International Economic Relations. His talk discussed China’s emergence over the last three decades as the most significant economic and political event of our lifetimes and the inevitable stresses this has created, not only within China, but also in the rest of the world. He also focused on the impact of China’s rising current account surpluses on global imbalances.

This year’s Forum looked at the effect and implications of the global financial crisis on China’s growth and development. Other distinguished speakers included; Long Yongtu, Secretary General, Boao Forum for Asia; Stephen Roach, Asia Chairman-Governments and Regulators, Morgan Stanley; Mao Yu Shi, Chairman, Unirule Institute of Economics; James McGregor, Chairman & CEO, JL McGregor & Company; David Li, Director, Research Centre of China and World Economy, Qinghua; Min Tang, Deputy Secretary General, China Development Research Foundation; Shen Minggao, Chief Economist, Caijing Magazine; Li Hong, President, Fleishman Hillard China; He li, Chief Editor, CBN Weekly; Wang Changtian, President, Enlight Media Group; Wu Kegang, President, Yunnan Red Wine Ltd.; and Zhu Yaming, Senior Vice President and head of retail markets, ABN Amro Bank (China) Co.

Key topics included ‘the Mysteries of Chinese Development’ on what is special about China’s economic system and how can China transform itself from the world’s factory into the world’s economic engine; ‘America’s Financial Crisis and China’s Strategies’ on the sub-prime mortgage crisis that hit international banks and how China’s financial sector can avoid risk and regulate monetary policy; and ‘China Industry Structure—Challenges and Opportunities’ on how China can continue to promote economic growth.

The Forum also featured the FTChinese Award for Top 10 People Influencing China’s Economy in the Past 30 Years, recognizing the movers and shakers who have helped propel China’s rapid growth. A special award was also created to recognize the unique contribution of China’s millions of migrant workers to the phenomenal growth of the country’s economy.

The Top 10 People Influencing China’s Economy in the Past 30 Years (in alphabetical order by surname):

1. Deng Xiaoping, leader of economic reform

The architect of China’s reform and opening policy and the creator of modern China, Deng ushered in an era unprecedented in Chinese history.

2. Du Runsheng, director of the Rural Department, Research Center for Rural Development of the State Council

Known as the father of China’s rural reforms, Du was instrumental in the formation of China’s rural policy in the 1980s, advocating the household responsibility system that was to hand ownership back to the farmers.

3. Li Ka-shing, Hong Kong businessman and the richest person of Chinese descent in the world

Often referred to as ”Superman” in Hong Kong because of his business prowess and a figure of great pride for the Chinese-speaking world.

4. Liu Chuanzhi, founding chairman of Lenovo

Regarded as the godfather of the Chinese business world.

5. Wu Jinglian, economist

A Senior Research Fellow for the Developmental Research Centre of the State Council of the People’s Republic of China, Wu pioneered the policy that socialism is compatible with a market economy, and is one of the first to create a branch of science dedicated to the comparative research of economic systems.

6. The 18 families of Xiaogang village and the end of collectivisation

In 1978, rural China was still organized into the system of communes and a planned economy, yet one village in Anhui dared to try something different.

7. Yuan Geng, creator of the Shekou Industrial Zone

Joined the century old Merchants Bureau of Hong Kong and transformed the institution into a genuinely useful tool in implementing reform and an open policy.

8. Yuan Longping, the father of hybrid rice

Chinese agricultural scientist who dedicated his life to the creation of high-yield rice.

9. Zhang Ruimin, CEO of the Haier Group

An avid adopter of new ideas, Zhang’s implementation of Western business practices and techniques was the key to his success.

10. Zhu Rongji, Premier of the People’s Republic of China

He dared to enter the minefield of reform in many of China’s monolithic institutions, from the State-Owned Enterprises, to government, medical care and education.

Please find the further information on the award recipients in the attached list.

Around 200 people attended this year’s Forum, including senior executives from leading Chinese and multinational companies, fund managers, M&A specialists, academics and securities and retail analysts.

More information on the 2008 FTChinese Annual Forum can be found online at

http://www.ftchinese.com/events/annualforum2008/minisite/AnnualForum_index.html

ENDS

For further information, please contact:

Azmar Sukandar, Financial Times, +852 2905 5519 or azmar.sukandar@ft.com

Elinor Huang / Benjamin Han, Fleishman-Hillard (Beijing), +8610 5869 1666 ext 3101 / 3107, elinor.huang@fleishman.com / benjamin.han@fleishman.com

About the Financial Times:

The Financial Times, one of the world’s leading business news organisations, is recognised internationally for its authority, integrity and accuracy. Providing extensive news, comment and analysis, the newspaper is printed at 24 print sites across the globe, has a daily circulation of 448,523 (ABC figures, November 2008) and a readership of 1.3 million people worldwide. FT.com is the definitive home for business intelligence on the web, providing an essential source of news, comment, data and analysis for the global business community. FT.com attracts 7.1 million unique users, generating 72 million page views (ABCe figures, March 2008).

FTChinese 2008 Award for the Top 10 People to have Influenced China’s Economy in the Past 30 Years

1. Deng Xiaoping, leader of economic reform

The architect of China’s reform and opening policy and the creator of modern China, Deng ushered in an era unprecedented in Chinese history. He was a proletarian worker, a revolutionary, a politician, a military man, and a diplomat, and one of the leaders of the Chinese Communist Party, the People’s Liberation Army, and the People’s Republic of China.

His theory of “socialism with Chinese characteristics” enabled the Chinese people to grow rich, and he created the “one country two systems” policy. His deeds have had an impact on almost every citizen of China in the late 20th century, and to a certain extent changed the world. He has appeared on the cover of America’s Time magazine eight times, a man whose open mind and pursuit of the truth has breathed new life into the nation.

2. Du Runsheng, director of the Rural Department, Research Center for Rural Development of the State Council

Known as the father of China’s rural reforms, Du was instrumental in the formation of China’s rural policy in the 1980s, advocating the household responsibility system that was to hand ownership back to the farmers in his famous “No.1 Documents.” He said that the biggest problem facing China today is the state of its rural population, and the biggest problem faced by the rural population is that of land. Du’s decades of work during the last century have gone a long way in solving those problems.

3. Li Ka-shing, Hong Kong businessman and the richest person of Chinese descent in the world

Li, often referred to as ”Superman” in Hong Kong because of his business prowess, has become a figure of great pride for the Chinese-speaking world. His rags to riches tale has become an inspiration, starting out as a lowly worker in a plastics trading company at the age of fifteen, today he is the eleventh richest man in the world - as chairman of Cheung Kong Holdings, his companies have a total market value of 300 billion Hong Kong dollars. Despite his phenomenal wealth, he is also famed for his thrifty lifestyle and his great number of donations to charity.

4. Liu Chuanzhi, founding chairman of Lenovo

Liu Chuanzhi has ambition, ability and dedication, his career has been groundbreaking and innovative, and today he is regarded as the godfather of the Chinese business world. With an initial capital outlay of only 300 thousand yuan Liu, together with 10 like-minded colleagues, launched the New Technology Developer Inc., the predecessor of the Lenovo Group, funded by the Chinese Academy of Sciences. Two decades later, this small SOE has become one of the top ten IT companies in the world, and the leading technology company in China.

And all this was achieved by a man who only entered the business world at the age of 40. Lenovo has gone on to purchase IBM’s PC division and join the ranks of the Fortune 500. His mantra is that knowledge creates wealth.

5. Wu Jinglian, economist

Wu Jinglian is Senior Research Fellow for the Developmental Research Centre of the State Council of the People’s Republic of China. He has pioneered the policy that socialism is compatible with a market economy, and is one of the first to create a branch of science dedicated to the comparative research of economic systems. His policies to combat inflation in 1984-89 proved highly effective. In 2006 he asserted that though China’s economy was still in its youth, it already had the capacity to meet the basic needs of the entire population. This greatly respected economist has always held aloft the flag of rationality, and been resolute in his belief that the foundation of all good economic policy is the consideration of the Chinese people. Though he has been given many epithets, the most telling is the media’s affectionate title of “Market Wu”, for his pioneering of market reforms.

6. The 18 families of Xiaogang village and the end of collectivisation

In 1978, rural China was still organized into the system of communes and a planned economy, yet one village in Anhui dared to try something different. Together eighteen families in Xiaogang village put their names to a contract that was to become the household responsibility system, a system in which individual farmers, and not the State, is responsible for profit and loss. Theirs was the first step toward China’s open and reform policy, their experiment was the foundation that was to better the lives of the rural population of the entire country.

7. Yuan Geng, creator of the Shekou Industrial Zone

Yuan Geng joined the century old Merchants Bureau of Hong Kong and transformed the institution into a genuinely useful tool in implementing the reform and open policy.

Yuan has lived through the century of miraculous economical transformation of China, and often played a key role in this change – as Shenzhen provided a model of economic reform for China, so Yuan Geng’s Shekou was the model for Shenzhen. He has been a leader in many industries – he established the first listed joint venture company, and later the first commercial bank on the mainland - the Merchants Bank of China. He called for the creation of the first holding company to deal with insurance - Ping An Insurance – which was also the first Chinese insurance company to operate internationally.

He has popularized various sayings, from “efficiency is money,” to the phrase “I can disagree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it,” though his greatest contribution to China is showing China what is possible, what can be achieved.

8. Yuan Longping, the father of hybrid rice

Chinese agricultural scientist Yuan Longping has dedicated his life to the creation of high-yield rice. His success is told best by the numbers; his new strain of hybrid rice has increased overall production in China by one hundred billion kilos over ten years so that today the country is able to feed an additional 60 million people. He had the courage to challenge accepted wisdom, and the fruits of his years of research has had an impact around the world. Held dear by the Chinese people, his creation has provided for future generations.

9. Zhang Ruimin, CEO of the Haier Group

Zhang Ruimin has always been an avid adopter of new ideas, and his implementation of Western business practices and techniques was the key to his success. In 2007, Haier had a global revenue of 1.18 billion yuan, yet when Zhang took over the company in 1984 it was a State-owned factory in debt for over a million. Zhang famously combated the company’s main failing by introducing quality control with a sledgehammer: He ordered the factory workers to literally smash to pieces the great number of non-functioning refrigerators. Thus quality management was brought to China, swiftly followed by the concept of “the customer is always right.”

From 1984 to the end of 2000 the company saw a staggering growth in revenue, averaging 80% per year. Haier is now the fourth largest white goods manufacturer in the world, with local design centres, manufacturing bases and trading companies in over thirty countries. Throughout, Zhang Ruimin has been dedicated to one goal: Making Haier a truly global brand.

10. Zhu Rongji, Premier of the People’s Republic of China

The Hunanese are known for their strength of character and Zhu Rongji is no exception. He dared to enter the minefield of reform in many of China’s monolithic institutions, from the State-Owned Enterprises, to government, medical care and education. He served as premier of China from 1998 to 2003, during which time he kept China on track as it joined the WTO, weathered the Asian financial crisis, and the threat of rising unemployment and inflation. As an administrator he was decisive and strong, and yet he has the common touch, a warm, human side that the Chinese public identifies with. He took up the mantel of loved premier and respected reformer.